COBER'S CHOICE

Cober's Choice is strongly reminiscent of Hosie's Alphabet, except that the black-and-white pen drawings here more closely resemble--in style and to a degree in subject--Leonard Baskin's also-famous renderings of owls and other deadly specimens. Cober's animals--muskrat to crab to chicken to skunk-all come off looking more or less ominous; and that's not surprising because, besides being his handiwork, many are drawn from taxidermists' models, and some are even depicted in a state of decay. This he tells the reader in brief, flat, remarkably offhand captions: e.g., ""I like this stuffed crow. (It might even be a raven.) I borrowed it from the artist Robert Andrew Parker."" Probably that unconcern--that readiness to say anything or almost nothing--is meant to charm; probably the ball bouncing inexplicably down the alligator-specimen's back is meant to be amusing. But all that this casual disregard of anyone's interests but his own accomplishes, finally, is to demonstrate Cober's confidence in his own virtuosity.