APES A-GO-GO!

With great apes around, will the tidy town be fixed or flattened?

In a lovely little town determined to win the Tidiest Town Competition for the third year running, the mayor notices that one flower is taller than the others. Fussy Great Ape offers to help. He does, but his help flattens all the other flowers. The mayor is incensed. Fussy Great Ape knows someone who can fix it, and he hollers, “Bogo! Pogo! Apes a-go-go!” (which is how great apes contact one another). Along comes his friend Mucky Great Ape, who’s a gardener. He fixes the flowers but buries the street in mud. They call Sopping Great Ape, who washes the street but floods the town. After Thumping Great Ape and Sweeping Great Ape provide further “assistance,” the town’s flattened. They call Baking Great Ape, who makes a giant cake that everyone enjoys while the apes put the town back together. It’s not perfect, but the mayor has found warm cake and friends might be better than awards—but when Smashing Great Ape offers to help clean up after the cake, the mayor decides to do it himself. Avant-garde fashion designer Milisic’s debut is goofy and endearing. Allen’s muddy pastel illustrations look like a long-lost Saturday morning cartoon designed by James Thurber.

Gently whack-a-doodle, sure to leave little listeners aping the giant apes.