In this rhyming story, Chaconas brings the domino effect to the farm. When a dog causes a screen door to slam and wake the cat, there’s no end to the havoc. The cat puts knots in Ma’s knitting yarn, resulting in painful lumpy socks that cause Dad to bump into a beehive, and so on: you get the picture. By the end of the story the cows are back in the barn, the feathers back in the pillow, and the pig-tailed narrator is exhausted from trying to keep order in her little world. The author’s bouncy couplets are rhythmically consistent–all the better for reading aloud. Hillenbrand’s mixed-media illustrations with characteristic domestic details and expressive faces on both animal and human figures are a spot-on match to the narrative. More than just silly fun at home or at storytime, this title would be useful for teaching cause and effect and prediction. – Lisa Egly Lehmuller, St. Patrick’s Catholic School, Charlotte , NC

Booklist:

“Please don’t slam the door! / Don’t slam that old screen door!” a young girl cries. After the dog ignores her plea, the resulting chain of events brings disaster after disaster on the girl’s house, each more fantastical than the last. Soon the living room is a tangle of knotted yarn, a swarm of bees has descended on a curious bear, and a herd of confused-looking cows has landed in the bedroom. The narrator decries each absurd happening in frantic rhyme (“Bees, don’t swarm and sting! / Don’t swarm and swoop and sting!”), and Hillenbrand’s full-bleed mixed-media illustrations slyly document the mounting chaos as the expressive animal and human characters find themselves in a fine mess. The girl’s struggle against a series of uncontrollable inevitabilities is nicely combined with sympathy and humor to keep things whimsical and light. At last, the young heroine takes command and, still in rhyme, restores order to the house . . . at least until the door slams again. — Miriam Aronin

Publisher's Weekly:

A boisterous pup bounding through an old screen door sets off a cacophonous chain of events in this picture book romp. A girl makes the titular plea to her dog hoping to avoid mass confusion, but she's too late. The slamming door awakens the cat, who unravels the yarn in Ma's knitting basket, which leads to a pair of knotted, lumpy socks for Pa, who hops around and rouses the bees in the hive, and so on. Cows, bees, and a big brown bear in the bedroom are the last straw for the frazzled young heroine, who orders everyone out. Readers will delight in the cumulative chaos and empathize with the narrator's exasperation. Chaconas (Mousy Love) keeps the energy level up with rhymes full of exclamatory phrases ("Don't run through the barn!/ Hey, Bear! Not through the barn!/ You'll give those cows an awful scare,/ you silly, bee-stung, scaredy-bear"). Hillenbrand's (Sleep, Big Bear, Sleep!) mixed-media illustrations convey a gleeful sense of motion, capturing the bucolic setting and its inhabitants via a sunny palette, dramatic facial expressions, and fun details