Just a Little Bit

The author and illustrator of Nothing Sticks Like a Shadow put a new spin on a timeless theme as two friends deal with their dissimilar statures. Elephant and Mouse try to balance a seesaw in the park, with obvious results. Along come a giraffe, zebra, lion, bear, crocodile, mongoose, monkey and ostrich. One by one they climb onto Mouse's side of the seesaw, ``grunting and groaning and grimacing'' as they push down as hard as they can in an attempt to get Elephant off the ground. Just as they're about to give up, a small brown beetle flies down from the sky and perches atop Mouse's nose, adding the needed weight to move that seesaw. ``Every little bit helps!'' declares Elephant as a crowd of animal spectators cheers. Tompert's playful if slight cumulative text gets a lift from Munsinger's amusing watercolors, which portray this assemblage of creatures as an endearing, unusually expressive lot. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)