One Stuck Drawer CL

A simple dresser sits in the ``dark and clammy'' basement of a furniture store, its stuck bottom drawer rendering it unsalable. A girl named Sophia falls in love with the dresser; although she doesn't have enough money to pay for it, the shopkeeper lets her take it, provided that she promises to pay the following week. Sophia and the reclaimed piece of furniture spend many happy hours together, dimmed only by the fact that the girl still lacks the required money. One terrible night, men come to repossess the dresser--a struggle ensues, the drawer comes unstuck and a parcel pops out. Now sitting forlornly in a store window, the dresser sees a crowd gathering around a dancing tiger, which proves to be Sophia. The tiger costume hidden in the stuck drawer is the instrument of the two friends' reunion. In Montenegro's debut picture book, a melodramatic mood is cast by the unusual pen-and-ink and wash illustrations. Her dark story, however, with its oddly anthropomorphized dresser and rather contrived ending, may prove too drab for many readers. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)