HI FLY

Perhaps the first wordless picture book to have an author (story contriver?) credit as well as an illustrator, this is a sophisticated series of closeup black and white drawings about an ugly little gift who shrinks to the size of a sort of campy androgynous fly on the ceiling. The two take a cup ride in the dishwater, dance on the phonograph turntable, and maneuver several close calls (escaping a cat, a flyswatter, a man's foot, etc.) in a frying pan-to-fire sequence until the gift says ""bye"" and reverts to normal size. The drawings are admittedly more interesting than the flimsy formula ""plot line,"" but their chief distinction, aside from the gratuitously repellent pair of performers, is in the dizzying Alice-in-Wonderland perspective which is extended through the pages rather than expanded or developed.