THE GREAT RINGTAIL GARBAGE CAPER
By
On an island which the flap identifies as Martha's Vineyard, two soon-to-be-college boys (inauspiciously named Nip and Tuck) take over the summer garbage route, and their rare and conscientious performance of duty precipitates a crisis for the island raccoons. Foote establishes this bluntly, without much art, then switches to the raccoon community, where wise Oldest Raccoon selects a cadre and readers gradually figure out what the group is up to: a garbage truck heist, with a raccoon crew making the middle-of-the-night rounds as quietly and neatly as the ""boys,"" then distributing food to the raccoons while inedibles are burned as usual at the dump. Foote throws in some pretty flat jokes (some for kiddies and some for pops) and some environmental admonitions; but he's not light-fingered enough to carry off a really sprightly caper.