THE CLUMPETS GO SAILING

Cyndy Szekeres' pictures provide most of the cozy-ingenious details that this sort of miniature adventure depends on. The story is about the Clumpet family who, on receiving word of Uncle Skinny's illness, turn their rustic cabin's front door into a boat, use the vacuum cleaner and tablecloth for a motor, mast and sail, and set forth on an overnight journey to deliver a pot of hot soup. By the end all four Clumpers are asleep and Uncle Skinny (""luckily, he was feeling better"") must rush out and save them from drifting past his home and over the rapids. Szekeres shows us that the Clumpets are a family of shrews and provides them with quaint costumes and an affable demeanor, sometimes scaling the domestic objects (vacuum, camera, etc.) to their size and sometimes, Borrowers-style, turning a teacup into a huge pot or using an anchovy tin as Uncle Skinny's bed. For closeup viewing by the demure sort of child or predisposed grownup.