Translated from the Russian into rollicking verse, this droll character portrait will quickly have listeners chiming in on the chorus: “Oh, that absentminded fellow from Portobello Road!” Leaping into a shirt and thrusting his arms into his pant legs, the Absentminded Fellow dashes out into the London streets, frantically hails a cab (“Driver, stake me to the drain! Striver, brake me to the strain!”), rushes through the train station and right into an abandoned car. Three days later, to his surprise, he’s still in London. Rosenthal’s rubbery, Katzenjammer-Kids-style illustrations, replete with plewds, briffits, and amused onlookers, add a suitably madcap air to this wild, zany ride. (Picture book. 6-8)