A
ny kid who assiduously avoids bathtime will find a kindred spirit in Postgate's (The Richest Crocodile in the World
) funny, fetid canine hero. Although Bill's human family does their best to get the pooch into the sink, “every time he'd get away/ And live to stink another day.” But Bill meets his match when Great Aunt Bleach arrives to dog-sit. “Bill, you will not get away!” Bleach decrees when the pooch secrets himself in what he thinks is the ultimate, take-no-prisoners hiding place. “And, like a great, plump bird of prey,/ She swooped down to the compost bin./ And landed right on top of him!” Postgate's watercolor-and-ink cartoons pull out all the stops, providing the perfect complement to his rollicking verse. Bleach, who sports a pink beehive, harlequin glasses and polka-dot bloomers (the last revealed when she makes a Tarzan-like swing into the compost pile), is the very picture of a comically obsessed foil. Fans of all things grimy and gross will likely find themselves in fits of giggles. Ages 3-up. (Apr.)
