YES

Belgian artist Goffin (OH!, 1991) brings his spare graphic style to an almost wordless book, with an amusing play on the theme of matching a child to the right parent. Here, an appealing toylike person and his tiny dog carry an egg that's bigger than he is to one animal after another—turtle, fish, platypus; each says, simply, ``No.'' Finally, a bird lifts the top from the egg, disclosing a book within—this book, in fact—and our hero is last seen reading it, the huge animals looking over his shoulder. Like the girl on the salt box that pictures a girl on a salt box, the outcome has an intriguing logic, while the simply drawn figures and serene color engage attention with imaginatively surreal effects—a giant duck's head protruding from a small window; the little person, egg in hand, perched on a stepladder to converse with a snake in a tree. A quiet book with a unique, offbeat charm. (Picture book. 2-6)