FROG MEDICINE

Another surreal adventure for Elmo, hero of Moog-Moog, Space Barber (1990). Stuck with a book-report book he's sure he won't enjoy—Frog Medicine—Elmo doesn't even open it. Suddenly, the assignment's due: ``I'll just make up something,'' he decides, but draws a blank. Meanwhile, the froggie details that have been invading Teague's art burst forth on Elmo's feet, now green and webbed. After a visit to the book's author, Dr. Galoof, a frog whose desk and bookcase of medical tomes sit among reeds and lily pads, elicits solid advice (``Just do your homework...You really should read more''), Elmo settles down, finds he enjoys the book after all, and returns to normal—even his feet. Offbeat and wryly amusing, but it's the illustrations that command attention: the solid, hard-edged forms are alive with energy, with even skyscrapers leaning purposefully; Elmo's cat acts as a constant observer, by turns anxious, bored, or debonair; every scene is bathed in curiously pure light, with plenty of clever, funny details to discover. (Picture book. 5-10)*justify no*