KING ROOSTER, QUEEN HEN

With a beautiful understanding of traditional themes and devices, Lobel tells the story of a happy farm hen and rooster who decide to go to the city and be King and Queen. And so, with an old boot for a carriage and a team of field mice for horses, and picking up a sparrow (for maid), duck (for cook) and crow (for butler) en route, they go their way . . . which leads, but for the alert sparrow's last minute rescue action, straight into the trap of a hungry fox who has invited them all in to a supper table set for one. The pictures--subtle, delicate, glowing--accent the fowls' pomposity, the venture's absurdity and the countryside's loveliness.