> SMALL PRINT

There is mayhem, frenzy and colour galore for March break.

A lavish antidote to grey March days, Tom Schamp’s It’s a Great Big Colorful World (Prestel, 44 pages, $25.95, ages 4-10) offers vivid, busy pages of all things white, black, and all colours of rainbow. With historical and pop references, animals, vegetables and minerals, cultural signs and natural features from Yellow Submarine to blue jeans and cherry blossoms, this humour-full art book is lively, informative and aesthetically glorious.

Heading to a sugar bush? You can prep your kids with Bear Goes Sugaring (Neal Porter, 32 pages, $24.99, ages 4-9), written and illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III. This attractive, approachable picture book lays out the process of sugaring off from the moment the sap starts running to the pancake breakfast. Two irreverent sidekicks perk up Bear’s methodical process with greedy humour.

For little ones with energy at reading time, I recommend Sally Nicholls’ The Button Book, illustrated with the goofy, wicked art of Beth Woollvin (Tundra, 32 pages, $19.99, ages 3-6). “Here’s a red button. I wonder what happens when you press it?” asks the narrator. Beeeep! There’s lots of scope for adult and child pizzazz in pushing the button pictures and acting out the results — clapping, singing, blowing raspberries (sure to be a favourite) and so on.

Excellent short “chapter books” for animal lovers, the “Jasmine Green Rescues” series by Helen Peters, illustrated by Ellie Snowdon, features the enterprising daughter of father Farmer Green and mother, vet Dr. Singh. In A Piglet

Called Truffle (Candlewick, 136 pages, $19.99, ages 6-10), Jasmine rescues a runt piglet and cares for terrified guinea pigs who get lost in a storm. Realistic animal husbandry, a suspenseful story and an appealing heroine make this a great choice.

Perhaps spring’s most sparkling debut is Marthe Jocelyn’s girl sleuth, Aggie Morton Mystery Queen: The Body Under the Piano (Tundra, 325 pages,

$18.99, ages 9-13). Embarrassingly shy and still mourning her father’s death, Aggie’s filled with assertive purpose when she discovers a dead body and, the same day, makes friends with polite Hector Perot. Inspired by the young Agatha Christie, this spritely mystery is full of character and wit, its “whodunit” aspects deepened by Aggie’s sorrow and by the elegant interweaving of political issues still resonant today.

Mixing horror with mystery, Kenneth Oppel’s Bloom (Harper Collins, 314 pages, $21.99, ages 10-14) strikes many of the genre’s familiar notes in a tale of a wickedly invasive plant and three teens who have special powers. A far-fetched yarn with a speedy pace, this could be either spoof or thriller. (New books are fine; old books are good too. For proven success, try Oppel’s “Silverwing” series about a young bat on a quest.) My Long List of Impossible Things

(Annick, 351 pages, $12.95, ages 12 and up), by Michelle Barker and set in Germany, 1945, is a serious, lose-yourself-init YA novel and an impressive achievement. Fleeing Soviet soldiers, Katja is grudgingly taken in by friends. Contributing to their household is complicated — as everything is in a world where deceit, betrayal and confidences are rife with danger. When Katja vandalizes a Soviet car, the web of consequences and responsibility becomes impossibly fraught. Barker blends the realistically warm-hearted (and hot-blooded) impulses of a teenaged girl with an intensely complex and oppressive historical moment, as post-war Germans confront Nazism’s aftermath. Highly recommended.

Set in Toronto, Sheena Kamal’s Fight

Like a Girl (Penguin, 264 pages, $21.99, ages 13 and up) is a spooky, vibrant YA mystery. A Muay Thai kickboxer, Trisha’s training herself to be “hella fierce” as her mother says Trinidadian women must be. When Trisha begins to suspect that her father’s been murdered, her ferocity takes a new direction. With a propulsive, assured voice, Trisha’s tale spools out in a compelling, musical rush. Deirdre Baker is the author of “Becca Fair and

Foul.”