Given a strong comic illustrator--the Jack Tworkov of The Camel Who Took a Walk, say--the squirrel's quest for a bigger and better tickle might have made an amusing, if still slight, performance: from an accommodating cat, he proceeds to a rooster (the tail feathers), some chicks, and a wheat field before setting his sights on the Tickle Tree/ palm tree--which an animal tower (squirrel atop goat, horse, camel) enables him to reach; then, shaking with laughter, the tower collapses . . . and the odd foursome curls up for a restorative rest. In the clunkish realistic pictures, however, it all seems slightly silly and faintly embarrassing.