The Puffin Problem

A follow-up to Lori Doody's utterly charming picture book Capelin Weather, The Puffin Problem poses the delightfully silly and improbable question: "What would happen if St. John's, Newfoundland was over-run by a parliament of puffins?"

With quiet wit and whimsy, Doody depicts the difficulties that arise when Newfoundland and Labrador's official bird heads for the bright city lights. Puffins keep popping up everywhere: they are underfoot and overhead; they tie up traffic and are bad for business. It isn't pretty, but it is pretty funny.

Such a peculiar problem calls for an imaginative solution. It takes a smart, small person to come up with the just the trick to send those pesky puffins packing back out to sea.

Young readers will have great fun finding al...