The Last Basselope: One Ferocious Story

Breathed's ( A Wish for Wings That Work ) instantly recognizable characters--among them the pusillanimous Opus and the sputtering Bill the Cat--star in this color-saturated, characteristically silly wilderness adventure. Donning his pith helmet, ``Great but Not Particularly Brave Discoverer'' Opus instigates a hunt for the savage Basselope, a creature said to have inspired terror since prehistoric times. Deep in the forest, the cowardly search party locates that odious beast--a gentle basset hound with the antlers of an antelope whose allergy to puffy dandelions lends a perpetual pre-sneeze snarl to his flabby face. Breathed's phosphorescent hues and otherworldly settings seem inspired by a lava lamp's glowing interior; he offsets his lush, airbrushed creations with pencil sketches of the bumbling ``Great Basselope Expeditionary Force.'' This book's humor and phraseology, however, seem more sophisticated than that of Breathed's A Wish for Wings That Work , and the pace occasionally slackens. Still, this rambunctious episode in several now-familiar cartoon lives provides comedy and drama for the author's devotees. All ages. Children's BOMC selection. (Oct.)