ALL ABOUT BIRD

Another of Cathrine Barr's animal adoptions (see Jingle and Sox, 99 Ducks Plus 1, et. al.), Bird is introduced with the same hand printed commentary and intentionally artless monochrome drawings. Bird, only temporarily a pet, is recovering from an injured wing and the observation of his chirping, eating, sulking and trying his newly healed wing sustains at least minimal involvement. However, Barr's failure to characterize Bird's child caretaker or even to sketch in Bird's surroundings seems merely banal and slipshod -- certainly nothing to elicit ""a special chirp.