PICNIC WOODS

Saucy looking Mr. Fox, clad in his blue jeans, a sweat shirt and his bare feet seeks a nice quiet spot for fishing and lays his bountiful picnic basket on the grass beside him. Pretty soon it is stolen by two rascally gray squirrels, who make off with it only to have it taken from them by a shrewd looking raccoon. From here on it changes hands a number of times,- the rabbits, the beavers, the mice all get possession of the desirable basket, until its rightful owner recaptures it. Even people who object to personified animals wont mind this for the whole world of the story is the animal's own, with nary a human in sight, and youngsters will chuckle over the raccoon's natural markings which make him look like a holdup man and the stove which is the rabbit's home. The humorous, active pictures in color by the author (who wrote last year's Runaway Rocking Horse) are often double page spreads so the story may be followed by the pictures alone.