STICK-IN-THE-MUD

Fred Ketchum's simple, striking green and black drawings go with a short text for a rather charming depiction of one of life's basic conflicts- tradition vs. change. Little Tomba lives in a timeless, placeless, typical primitive village of mud houses with thatched roofs, that flood badly when it rains. When Tomba tries to ask why, his elders buck him with the answer that it has always been that way. Then the village wise man sees something in the boy's new project- a house on stilts- and soon everyone is convinced of its practicality. Kids will catch on too.