THE KNOBBY BOYS TO THE RESCUE

The book is geared to a sleepy-time send-off. Before the Knobby Boys (Fox, Raccoon, and Crow) get to snuggle down for a long winter's rest, they get involved in some pretty hectic and unlikely activity: called away from their dominoes, they come to the aid of abandoned Baby Brown Bear. Along with feeding the gargantuan ""Mother's precious baby,"" as the bear calls himself, the trio help Mrs. Bear escape from the pair of gypsies who had kidnapped her. The nonsense of this book is not attractive from either an animal standpoint (the actions and reactions of the characters all have civilized motivations) or from a personal one (the relationship between the gushy bear and her mama's boy son is primarily grotesque). Apart from the clothing (the baby bear, for instance, wears a diaper and a ruffled bonnet) the illustrations have some nice details, but the flat coloring carries out the comic book quality of the text.