DIKOU AND THE BABY STAR
By
From the Polish-born, French author-illustrator, another enigmatic fantasy about Dikou: a small, appealing green creature with strange but expressive cloud-like antlers on his head. This time, exploring alone on a starless night, he finds a baby star and--as in Dikou and the Moon Sheep (p. 53/C-3)--has trouble getting his parents' attention when he wants to care for it appropriately. He does his best on his own, but the star's glow fades. Deciding to take the situation in hand at last, Papa rockets the ""piece of glass"" into the sky--where it continues to beam as a new star. Dikou's need to light the darkness, the gulf between him and his loving but preoccupied parents, and his tender concern for something of real importance to him that they fail to understand--all are sensitively conveyed in the understated text and beautifully composed, expressive illustrations. Young audiences should be intrigued by Dikou.