A happy Hinky-Pink is a fine thing. An unhappy Hinky-Pink pinches!

That is what happens to Anabel, a young seamstress in Old Italy who has only days to finish her dream: sewing a gown for the princess to wear at the Butterfly Ball.

Thanks — or no thanks — to the Hinky-Pink Anabel is woozy for want of sleep. Her lace looks like cheesecloth; her hems, like saddle cinches. Night after night, the Hinky-Pink keeps wrestling her bedclothes to the floor — and pinching. What is its problem? And how is Anabel to help?

A grand old favorite of storytellers is here given sprightly new life.

"In this small-format entry, a happy hybrid of traditional tale and quirky cartoon, McDonald (Judy Moody) and Floca (Lightship) recast a story from 1940 to tickle a contemporary fancy. Humble seamstress Anabel's dream of sewing a princess's ball gown is finally about to come true — until a Hinky-Pink, a mysterious, seemingly invisible creature begins robbing her of sleep night after night. The characters clearly inhabit fairy tale land — 'back when mirrors could talk and princes were frogs' — but this particular magical realm intersects with a long-ago Florence, depicted in Floca's limber ink-and-watercolor illustrations and invoked by the occasional Italian word or phrase. Like the text, the art hits just the right tone of tongue-in-cheek earnestness: after stating that the heroine's name is Anabel, the omniscient narrator adds, 'Alas, not Anabella,' and a speech balloon floats out of the illustration (a panorama of Florence) with an echoing 'Alas.' The lively design mixes full-page bleeds, pictures stretching across spreads, and tiny animated vignettes; a profusion of detail doesn't impede a spirited sense of motion. For extra fun, endnotes identify Florentine landmarks. Ages 4 — 8. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Megan McDonald's many books include Baya, Baya, Lulla-by-a; Insects Are My Life; and the IRA Award-winning Is This a House for Hermit Crab? Once a librarian herself, she is now a noted visitor to libraries, and is also the author of the best-selling Judy Moody books. She lives with her husband in Sebastopol, California.Brian Floca is the award-winning author and illustrator of Lightship, a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book; The Racecar Alphabet, called "astonishing" in a starred review from Kirkus Reviews; and Five Trucks. He is the illustrator of The Hinky-Pink, by Megan McDonald; Uncles and Antlers by Lisa Wheeler; and Poppy, by Avi. His forthcoming Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 stems from long-standing interest in the space program and is the result of extensive research, including trips to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and the Johnson Space Center.