AFTER THE FLOOD

Touching his elegantly delineated etchings with watercolor, in the manner of hand-colored 19th-century illustrations, an artist best known for the antics of his pigs (Pigs from A to Z, 1986) adds a sequel to his version of The Ark (1988). Again, engineering feats figure conspicuously in Geisert's imaginative conception: stranded on precipitous Ararat, a peaceable kingdom of Noah's family and animals work together to move the ark, in sections, down an elaborate ramp and overturn the hull for a new dwelling, where ``stories were read.'' Then, ``Crops grew. The animals multiplied,'' until the earth is repopulated. Meanwhile, in a visual subtext, grape vines and their fruit—bold and dark in the foreground—seem to have an ominous (but never explicitly mentioned) significance that children unaware of Noah's problem with the bottle late in life will happily ignore while poring over the lovingly detailed art. (Picture book. 4-8)