DON'T SPILL IT AGAIN, JAMES

Three mini-stories of sorts, featuring two little mammals (fat foxes?) and told essentially in pictures. The words, for their part, consist of monologues by three-and-a-half-year-old James' older sibling--scolding him in the first piece for spilling the catsup as the children carry groceries home in the rain, them comforting him when the scolding brings tears. There's not much to look at but the two furry animals, James in blue and the other in pink; and in the last piece the views of James being prepared for bed are even less interesting--though the bedtime song they accompany is pleasantly melodic. The sprightlier middle skit jogs along in a train, where a cigar-smoking owl occasions some fast action. Under that red plaid traveling coat and cap, the owl could conceivably be a character--but this pair of loving siblings lacks Wells' usual arresting slant and inner dimension.