Arthur Sets Sail

This gentle tale of pride and prejudice is gracefully told. Arthur is an aardvark who isn't satisfied with living peacefully in the land of his fellow aardvarks. So, he sets sail one day and travels to the land of the rosy pink pigs. The pigs, who have never seen an aardvark before, ridicule and belittle him, until he is obliged to go home. He agrees to bring along oene of the pigs, a fellow named Rudolf who soon encounters abuse at the hands of the aardvarks. Arthur, however, does not permit this, and soon the aardvarksk and the pigs become good friends, visiting one another frequently. Mathieu's luminous illustrations beautifully portray a story that is similar in theme to Leo Lionni's Nicholas, Where Have You Been? The pigs and aardvarks are so strikingly ugly by human standards that they underscore the book's message handsomely. Ages 5-8. (October)