Little Lumpty

Dedicated to the memory of Humpty Dumpty, this whimsical debut is set in the town of Dumpty, where a community of eggs lives in the shadow of the legendary wall from which the legendary Humpty tumbled. An initial illustration shows a spindly-limbed Lumpty soaping graffiti from the dangerous wall, a gesture presumably meant to show Lumpty's fondness for the towering structure (he's ``always dreamed about climbing to the top''). With the help of a ladder, Lumpty one day attains the summit; he dances ``like a tightrope walker''--until he dares a downward glance and is paralyzed with fear. Imai's gouaches are dominated by shades of piney blue-green, purplish red and brown; she adopts a rudimentary, smiley-face artistic style so that no indentations appear on the eggs' chalky surfaces, even when they open their mouths. Her narrative gets the cautionary message across without lecturing the reader (``He was so glad to be home. `But I still love that wall,' he whispered . . . just before he fell asleep''). Although it breaks no new ground, this unassuming story offers fleeting moments of dramatic tension. Ages 4-up. (Apr.)