By Julia Howard
Liplap's WishChronicle Books, Jonathan London. Chronicle Books, $13.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-8118-0505-6This pair's second collaboration-a quieter tale than their spirited Fire Race-focuses on Liplap, a winsome young rabbit who shapes a ``snowbunny'' after the winter's first snowfall. He wishes that Grandma, who ``hadn't lived to see the snow this year,'' were here to help him make the creature's face. When his mother points out one bright star, the two decide that the star could be Grandma. Words and pictures create an affecting work that will be especially meaningful to children who have lost a loved one.
Big Trucks and Diggers Nesting Blocks [With 10 Nesting Blocks]Chronicle Books, Caterpillar. Chronicle Books, $19.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-8118-3621-0An inspired addition to the Nesting Blocks line, Big Trucks and Diggers Nesting Blocks by Caterpillar will thrill budding builders. Ten rugged cardboard blocks each feature a numbered black-and-yellow road sign on one side, a photo of a construction vehicle (""excavator"") on another, an illustration of same machine with a note about what it does (""digs and moves""), a drawing of a tool (""jackhammer"") plus a skyscraper that grows taller as the blocks are stacked. All fit into a built-to-last carrying case with a bright yellow cord for easy transport. DETAILSshareBUY THIS BOOK
Life in Double TimeChronicle Books, Mike Lankford. Chronicle Books, $22.95 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-8118-0683-1Lankford, who was born in Oklahoma in 1951, isn't famous, nor does he know anyone who is. Like legions of teenagers before him, he fell in love with rock and roll and chose to play the drums. He recently returned to pound the bass pedal behind all kind of musicians and to write this memoir, which has an off-kilter kind of charm. The chronology occasionally falters, the prose veers alarmingly from lyrical to workmanlike and Lankford, when he isn't being droll, isn't shy about touching on drug use or terminal boredom.
