May Belle is not nearly as dainty and feminine looking as her name would suggest and, to top it off, her best friend is an ogre. He’s a kindhearted ogre but he has some serious behavior problems: he wants to eat everything in sight. When he eats the flowers in May Belle’s garden, she exacts retribution by making him help her plant a new garden, this time a vegetable garden that he will be encouraged to eat. When he eats the note she writes inviting him to come to a tea party, she teaches him how to read. When he eats the picture of a bee as soon as he finishes painting it, he himself comes up with the solution: he paints a picture of himself with May Belle and gives it to her as a gift. Both text and illustrations are filled with touches of real humor, much of it coming from the predictability of Ogre’s inherent desire to eat things that humans regard as inedible. His naughty behavior is sure to strike a chord of recognition with many child readers who will nevertheless identify with the ever-patient and resourceful May Belle in this story told over three chapters. (Ages 4–8)