WHY CAN'T I FLY?

A rather slight story about a persistent ostrich who builds a succession of outlandish machines in a futile effort to fly like the other birds. The watercolor illustrations--while uneven in their contribution to the story's progress--can be musingly lively (especially in Ostrich's expressions) or disarmingly lovely (the landscape backgrounds). But the conclusion--the other birds trick Ostrich into believing in his own success--is problematic; while the surprise twist may provoke chuckles, it deprives the hero of either solving his own problem or confronting his true nature.