What do toy stuffed animals do when nobody is home? They have a wild party, of course!

This is Jancee Dunn’s first children’s book, collaborating nicely with Peaks Island illustrator Scott Nash to create one of the funniest children’s books in a long time. For ages 3-7 years, this original story is hilarious and beautifully illustrated as a child’s teddy bear hosts a noisy, messy party for 25 stuffed animal pals from the neighborhood.

When two puzzled police officers respond to the teddy’s home for noise complaints, they inform the teddy’s child owner of the party’s wild antics, including messing up the kitchen cooking chocolate chip pancakes, jumping on the bed, drawing with crayons on the walls, dressing up in mother’s clothes, creating a slippery, soapy bubble-bath slide down the hallway and dancing to loud music.

Cleary, teddy and his stuffed buddies know how to party — even the officers have to stifle their laughter. The officers are kind, patient and understanding, even giving the partygoers rides home afterwards. Teddy is mildly scolded and is expected to clean up the mess, but will he? Check out the last illustration for the answer.

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Camden author Liza Gardner Walsh loves to write about fairies and the roles they play in our lives. Following her delightful book, “Where Do Fairies Go When It Snows?,” she now wonders if fairies really do bring on the beauty of springtime.

After a bitterly cold Maine winter, this whimsical children’s book, for ages 3-5 years, is sure to brighten anyone’s day with vivid thoughts of spring. Detroit, Maine illustrator Hazel Mitchell also delights with colorful, intricate drawings of fairies and their animal friends hidden in plain sight.

With rhyming prose, Walsh tells how fairies plan for spring (this richly detailed illustration is hilarious) and how they gather their garden tools and march out to prepare the soil and plants for springtime awakening. They use tiny brushes and pastel colors to paint the flowers, sing and dance to wake up the earth (find the mole and the earthworm) and dress in their finest clothes to celebrate the season.

With silliness and fun, this tale also teaches and inspires children’s imagination, encouraging them to attract and welcome fairies to their gardens.

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Spring is coming and getting children outdoors in the garden is a great idea. Author Terry Pierce and illustrator Carol Schwartz, both award-winners, encourage children to learn about nature in the garden with this smart, fun children’s book for ages 4-7 years.

“My Busy Green Garden” is written in rhyming verse, as Pierce and Schwartz tell of all the flowers, birds and insects to be found in the garden, teasing children with something hidden, “the surprise in clever disguise.”

Wonderful garden critters are presented — the ladybug, honeybee, chickadee, dragonfly, grasshopper, ants, inchworm and hummingbird. But the hidden surprise comes at the end of the story.

Meanwhile, children should look carefully at the illustrations to find the wily chipmunk hiding in nearly every picture. At the end, Pierce and Schwartz offer capsule descriptions of entertaining facts about the animals, birds and insects shown in the book. A very nicely done production.

Bill Bushnell lives and writes in Harpswell.

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