Joseph Schindelman's precise, diminutive strokes and shrewd characterizations have redeemed some very dubious stories; here he has a small but auspicious tale to draw upon, draw out, draw around: the six animals who were left behind when the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe's children grew up and departed, when she herself had gone ""to brush the cobwebs off o' the sky,"" hold a meeting and decide to seek their fortunes elsewhere; what they really want is a house with smoke coming out of the chimney and a word of welcome at the door. After being turned away by an inflated frog and a hostile hedgehog, and almost scared off by a scarecrow, they find an Old Woman very like the first in a house very like the first. The charm is in the interplay of imperious cat and conciliatory goose, nervous hen and self-effacing pigeon--and in the images and tempos of the telling, each reinforced by imaginative design and impeccable illustration.