Otis

Since most piglet play takes place in the mud, what is a young pig who detests dirt to do? Otis, Bynum's (Altoona Baboona) hero, remains resolutely pristine--and lonely, until at last he meets a similarly independent thinker, a frog who shares his disdain for mud and ""all things swampy."" The plot is a familiar one, but the exacting, childlike tone hits the mark (""Otis hauled the weeds away, careful not to get a spot of mud on his pink, pink self""), and the watercolor cartoons are uniformly expressive. Otis stands bemused and apart from the rest of his family in their chaotic living room (amid the stack of books on the floor is one titled ""This Old Sty""); he sadly watches from the grass as his sisters play tag ""in the wallow""; he looks abjectly miserable when he imagines himself muddied. And when Otis finds himself a friend, his evident pleasure is endearing. Ages 3-7. (Apr.)