By Corey R. Tabor
A grumpy crow keeps saying no to everyone, and it turns out he has a very good, very secret reason.
Crow sits on a telephone wire and answers every cheerful invitation to play with exactly one word: KAW! No, no, and no again. He seems like the classic grump who needs to learn a lesson about being lonely. Then a secret phone call sets something in motion, a hidden door opens, and Crow heads down to an underground bunker and boards a rocket, because an asteroid is on its way and somebody has to go press the button marked LASERS.
It sets up the tired old story about the grouch who has to learn his lesson, then cheerfully flips it: Crow wasn't being mean, he was busy saving everyone, and he really did just want some peace first. For a child who sometimes wants to be left alone, that's a quietly reassuring joke. The twist is genuinely surprising, the humor is deadpan, and the hidden code in the endpapers gives them something to do the second time through.