MARY MALLOY AND THE BABY WHO WOULDN'T SLEEP

When sleepy Mary Malloy picks up the wakeful baby, ``Baby hullabalooed until the Crescent Moon pushed aside her cloudy curtains and smiled mysteriously down'' and asked to rock him. The mischievous moon wafts Baby away, while his worried sister calls out across the starry skies and twinkling cities until Mr. Fez, a crocodile, tricks the moon into dropping Baby into ``the bubbly Nile, right into Mr. Fez's fishing net''; then the amiable croc takes Baby, sleeping at last, over the sea in his felucca and home to Mary Malloy. The South African author depicts his dreamlike tale in freely rendered watercolors, dramatically contrasting dark skies with the bright colors of the moonlit sea; best is his language, like a rollicking lullaby, rich in imagery. An appealingly imaginative ``Wynken, Blinken and Nod'' descendant. (Picture book. 4-7)