LA BELLA MAGELLONA AND THE LITTLE CAVALIER

Hard on the heels of Richard Kennedy's debonair Little Love Song (1992, reviewed 12/15/91, p. 1593), about a peanut-sized ladylove, comes another sophisticated tale about mismatched lovers, this time with their sizes reversed. De Mejo says that his whimsical story about the extraordinary ``La bella Magellona'' (``a small tiny head on a massive torso; long, long legs; and from her Victorian-style skirt four shoes emerged—two large and two small'') was told him as a child by an aunt; wherever Magellona came from, she's a perfect match for this artist's uniquely offbeat perception. Magellona, who already has one somewhat unsavory suitor (with whom she enjoys mutual disdain), falls in love with a gentleman who is not only no bigger than her shoe but ``extremely old.'' It all seems hopeless until they discover a pair of lakes that allow them, Ö la Alice in Wonderland, to adjust their sizes. The preposterous story, told with some wit in uncompromisingly adult language, is most likely to amuse older children. Of greater interest are de Mejo's splendidly idiosyncratic oil paintings, intense with his surreal, elongated characters' taut gestures and vibrant with color. Not for every taste, but much to ponder—especially in the gorgeous art. (Picture book. 5-11)