THE BEAST AND THE BOY

Appearances aren't everything. A beast of the forest has a heart as soft as butter, and doesn't understand why everyone thinks he's a woodland terror; a gentle boy is deemed a coward by his confreres, though he fears not a thing. The boy runs away from home, the beast retreats to the forest to make real his bad image, they find each other, cavort and sport, then save the boy's parents from a pack of menacing wolves. Their reputations secured, all is right in their world. A simple morality tale, Mostacchi's treatment is a straightforward affair. Pure heroism saves these two characters, nothing less. When the neighbors show up to offer gifts to the stalwarts, what does this say about the fastness of their friendship? Miceli's primitive paintings, full of waving trees and abstractions of hills, exude a benign warmth that fits snuggly with this undemanding story. (Picture book. 5-8)