MY LIFE WITH THE WAVE

An outlandish and original tale by Paz (for adults, In Light of India, 1997, etc.) is cut and pressed into the picture-book format, for which Buehner provides wild images and, with Cowan, a humorous ending. A boy of about eight falls in love with the waves on his first trip to the seashore, and so takes one home. Fearing that the wave will be forbidden to board the train, he carries it aboard ""cup by small cup"" and hides ""her"" in the watercooler. At home, the wave rushes into the house, knocking over furniture, sending the cat screeching, and providing destructive merriment in the boy's room. ""If I caught and hugged her, she would rise up tall like a liquid tree, then burst into a shower and bathe me in her foam""--not a typical picture-book text, and adults may read more into those lines than Cowan intends. Like a sulky mistress, the wave begins to ignore the boy, and its amusing qualities wane. The family abandons the house with the wave inside; in winter it turns to ice and is easily returned to the ocean. The boy dreamily believes that he will have better luck with a cloud, but Buehner's last illustration--in which an anthropomorphic cloud emits lightning bolts--certainly does not bode well. Beyond the subtext, the story is full of drama; its fresh subject and boisterous improbabilities beckon.