Nanette's Baguette

 Mo Willems has a special gift for titles: "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus," "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late," "Edwina, the Dinosaur who Didn't Know She Was Extinct."

Willems's "Nanette's Baguette" is a title for the ages. I imagine, once he had the title, he found that the book wrote itself.

"Nanette" borrows from a standard trope: I run an errand for Mom. This is the stuff of Little Red, and the stuff of "Brave Irene." Nanette, a small frog, must get a baguette from the baker, Juliet. Getting to get the baguette is Nanette's biggest responsibility yet. 

Nanette strolls out onto the Parisian streets--but she stops to chat with Georgette, Suzette, and Bret (who carries his clarinet). When Nanette finally obtains the baguette, she begins taking bites--until all the bread is gone. Now Nanette feels beset with regret, and she considers a covert move to Tibet. (She might need a jet.)

In a moment of courage, Nanette returns home and "owns" what she has done. Mom responds with forgiveness, and a hug--"warm and wonderful, like a baguette." The two set out together--on a restorative mother/daughter mission, with a twist "Nanette won't soon forget."

This is a perfect book--and the rhymes seem to be a way of tipping a hat to Dr. Seuss and Sandra Boynton. I very much like the use of the pathetic fallacy (even the clouds weep for Nanette).

I bow before Mo Willems.