THE ELEPHANT'S WRESTLING MATCH

The elephant thunders out his boast--""No one can bring me down!""--and the monkey's talking drum sends the challenge echoing across the plains. The leopard, the crocodile, even the rhinoceros are easily vanquished, but not the little bat: she bites the elephant's ear until he drops to the ground to rub it. Sierra's retelling of this folktale collected in Cameroon is suitably vigorous; in Pinkney's swirling scratchboard illustrations, the animals (except, of course, the bat) are huge, gnarled, and solid. Colorful and dramatic.