THE GOAT IN THE RUG

Though Charlie's sheep came near to stealing the show in de Paola's Charlie Needs a Cloak (1974), his diverting antics weren't acknowledged in the text; here Navajo weaver Glenmae's goat Geraldine tells the whole story of how her wool (""It's called mohair, really"") is sheared, washed and dried, combed, spun, dyed, and woven into the rug that now hangs in an Arizona museum. Your reaction to Geraldine's naive narration will hinge on whether you consider cuteness a plus or a minus; we prefer de Paola's throwaway charm, but a Navajo rug has a lot more interest, visually and otherwise, than an ethnically anonymous shepherd's cloak. And Parker's page designs, with geometric border motifs separating the pictures from the print, give the proceedings a clean, crisp look that suits the cultural context without aping the Navajo style.