THE WONDER-DOG: The Collected Children's Stories of Richard Hughes

Once upon a time there was ""Living in W'ales"" (""much more fun. . . than living in houses"") and ""Don't Blame Me"" (if that motor-bike turns wicked) and other quick unpredictable stories by Richard Hughes in two collections that those who encountered them never forgot. Happily, they're back--with a brief, thought-provoking introduction by Hughes (who made them up for particular children) and suitably dry and outrageous illustrations by Antony Maitland. The lobsterpots that accommodate the King's squabbling brood in ""The Palace on the Rock""; ""The Dark Child"" who yearns to be ordinary; ""The School"" in search of pupils or ""The China Spaniel"" who can't learn his lessons: each is as crisply told as a news story, however ultimately unfathomable. Thirty altogether, most only a few pages long, every one a tease and, in some oblique way, a comfort.