Ella love-love- loves her brand-new umbrella. It's sky blue with white clouds, and it makes the most satisfying whoosh . . . click sound. Rain or shine, Ella insists on taking it with her everywhere. Unfortunately, a whoosh-click ing umbrella can cause serious trouble . . . especially at a ballet recital. It's a good thing Ella is a problem solver, because she's going to need to be creative to get what she wants. Sarah Weeks and Doug Cushman deliver a hilarious and universal tale about a little girl's trouble letting go of a favorite object. PreS—Ella is an enterprising pig. When an aunt's earring falls down the drain, she retrieves it with a high-heeled shoe and a wad of bubblegum. She comes to the rescue with a spaghetti strainer and curtain rod when her brother's frog escapes into a pool. Then, the porker receives a wonderful umbrella as a birthday present that she "love-love- loved ." She takes it with her everywhere she goes, causing problems instead of solving them. Cushman's rounded acrylic paintings depict the chaos of an unfettered umbrella until the object is banned from Ella's dance recital. Like Kevin Henkes's Owen (HarperCollins, 1993), Ella knows she needs her umbrella to give her courage and, like Owen, the resourceful pig comes up with a perfect solution. A reassuring tale for the youngest of listeners, who are often tied to precious objects of their own.— Kathleen Whalin, York Public Library, ME Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Ella the pig is a problem solver. She rescues her aunt's earring from the drain with a shoe and chewing gum, and she pulls a frog from the pool with a spaghetti strainer. When she gets a beautiful new umbrella for her birthday, she can't resist opening it everywhere, and suddenly, she is causing problems rather than solving them. With a "whoosh . . . click," Ella opens her umbrella and knocks over lamps, her baby brother, her parents' tea and cake. When she disrupts her fellow ballerinas, Ella's dance teacher bans umbrellas at the upcoming recital. Ella worries; without her comfort object, will she still be able to dance? Then Ella's problem solving kicks in, and she invents a creative solution that earns applause from the audience. Weeks' short text includes lots of repetitive phrases and sound effects that will easily encourage participation. Cushman adds slapstick humor with double-page scenes of determined Ella, an Everychild who takes blunders in stride and finds creative solutions. Gillian Engberg Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved SARAH WEEKS is an extremely well-known award-winning author of numerous picture books and middle grade novels, including Who's Under That Hat? and Ruff! Ruff! Where's Scruff?, both created with David A. Carter, and her own So B. It. She lives in New York City. Doug Cushman is a veteran mystery writer for children and the illustrator of more than one hundred picture books. Among his many popular books are the seven Holiday Mice books, written by Bethany Roberts. He lives in Northern California and Paris.