HIS ROYAL BUCKLINESS

Hawkes (Then the Troll Heard the Squeak, 1991) tells another ebulliently offbeat tale. ``The giants stole Lord Buckley and crowned him their king''—carrying the lad off to a northern land where they coddle him, but don't ``let him slide or bump or run'' lest he break. Undaunted, Lord Buckley sends a message in a bottle to ``southern cousins,'' who promptly set out to rescue him, riding (aha!) a rabbit and a raven en route. They also bring along some frogs, about their own size, whose songs of spring so please the giants that the little people and the big part as friends. The verse narrative stumbles a bit, but Hawkes's paintings of his fantasy adventure glow with vitality and humor, while the theme of a small person winning autonomy is dramatized with unusual panache. (Picture book. 4-8)