DON'T BE SCARED, SCARECROW

The scarecrow knows that the birds aren't afraid of him, but when the farmer stores him behind the shed for the night and his friend Huckleberry barks angrily at him from his leash, he's so discouraged that he runs away, drifting downstream in a boat. When he emerges, he does frighten some children and even some birds when a new farmer sets him in a raspberry patch. But that night he himself gets a fright—from laundry strung up to dry, eerie in the moonlight. Now understanding that Huckleberry barked because he didn't recognize him, the scarecrow goes home to his friend. The Finnish author's watercolors are unusually disarming, with the appealing, doll-like scarecrow losing wisps of straw as he wanders a serene landscape. A gentle tale, with a quiet message of acceptance. (Picture book. 5-8)