THE WARTVILLE WIZARD

Madden grinds his ax loudly in this colorfully illustrated but superficial picture book. Mother Nature gives a self-appointed litter collector the ""power over trash,"" and soon all the litterbug in town are festooned with the wrappers, cans, cigar butts and boxes that they've thoughtlessly thrown away. When they discover who is doing this to them, and why, they instantly repent, promising to deposit their refuse in trash baskets from now on, Younger readers might laugh at the lad who disappears under a huge toad of soda cans and fast-food containers, or at Mrs. Botts, who sports a sack of garbage attached to her rear end, but they are not likely to have their consciousness raised by such slick wish-fulfillment.