(Crown)

The night before Lena played her first soccer game, her father said it was time he told her the true story of the soccer mom from outer space. She was a perfectly ordinary mom until she went to her son Ruben's first soccer game with the Atomic Pickles. Then something happened ...something weird! Ruben's mom turned into an alien! She started screaming her head off, waving her arms, jumping up and down like crazy, and dressing like a giant green pickle! Ruben spied on his mom at home, but she acted normal. What was it about soccer games that made her turn into an alien? Whatever it was, Ruben thought that his mom's behavior was taking over the team and all of their parents, and that he'd better stop it before it was too late!

But when the team started playing their best ever, Ruben began to wonder: Could having a soccer mom from outer space actually be a good thing?
Ruben's unusual problem and its outrageous solution will have kids and parents alike cheering for the Atomic Pickles and the most inspiring soccer mom in the universe.

Numeroff (Chimps Don't Wear Glasses, 1995, etc.) and Saltzberg (This is a Great Place for a Hot Dog Stand, 1995, etc.) have concocted a rhyming quest for stew that will elicit giggles and stimulate salivary glands. Hunger for world-famous stew is why a young woman and her poodle have come into a restaurant, but it's the one thing they just can't have; it was devoured earlier by a busload of tourists from Spain. The waiter offers noodles, ham nuggets and peas, and gravy and fish, but his two diners demand stew. As the stew is the creation of the waiter's grandmother, the trio head over to her house, but Grandma is heading out for bowling night. That cold fact puts an end to dreams of stew and changes the nature of their pursuit. The illustrations bop along in sync with the light verse and occasionally expand into full-blown musical sets, complete with a chorus line of dancing chefs.