Happy Birthday to You! (by Dr. Seuss)

Happy Birthday! A kindly Katroovian Birthday Bird bustles a boy out of bed and out of town on a Smorgasbord's back (luxury seating and breakfast included). So begins a long, glorious day and night of gift-getting, snacking, hot-tubbing, and partying with the calm, cheery bird as pamperer-in-chief. This nurturing tale frisks, soars, and lopes along with finger-poppin' wordplay.

This is a sweet story without being saccharine. The watercolor illustrations are painted in nostalgic 1950s pastels accented with red, bright yellow, and black, and feature Dr. Seuss's trademark curvy, soaring architecture.

It's touching that there's an entire Katroovian "Asso-see-eye-ation" and several specialized Clubs devoted to making sure kids feel like a million bucks on their birthdays. Such nurturing is law in Katroo: The Birthday Bird follows an established set of rules and customs. The Birthday Bird is well organized and experienced with children: Sensibly, he intersperses calming, refreshing activities -- such as wienie roasting and bathing -- with more frenzied celebrating. This means the boy ends his special day in peaceful, satisfied slumber rather than cranky meltdown.