WHAT IF A LION EATS ME AND I FALL INTO A HIPPOPOTAMUS' MUD HOLE?

With black and white drawings that extend the feeling of playful verisimilitude, an unlikely but psychologically apt conversation between two little boys considering a visit to the zoo. Friend Stuart is one of those timid souls whose imagination can always be counted on to come up with discouraging contingencies, but the narrator is almost as fast with an answer. Thus: ""What if we meet a sea lion (who will) bounce me in the air like a ball? . . . I'll throw him a fish so he'll forget about you. . . . But then I'll fall. . . . Well, maybe. . . an elephant will catch you with his trunk and put you in a tree. . . . But how will I get down? . . ."" And so on until Stuart succeeds in scaring his friend--but not for long: ""Stuart, what if my daddy buys us a hot dog, popcorn and ice cream?"" A comedown perhaps after all that projected adventure, but a decisive ""what if"" at last.