Laura

Schroeder's (The Wonderful Adventures of Baron M nchhausen) ethereal pastels offer a surreal quality to this visually engrossing encounter between a curious girl and Humpty Dumpty. The pair first meet when Laura slips away from the illusory tree house she shares with her aunt to investigate something ""shimmer[ing] mysteriously,"" and stumbles upon Humpty asleep in a nest among sparse trees at dusk. Over several spreads, as Humpty flees from her in fear, the background changes to jet-black night until Laura rescues him from a weakened tree limb, and light once again infuses the scene. Next, text and artwork convey a mood of whimsy as Humpty, Laura and Bobo (Laura's teddy bear) slide down giant tulip leaves--""cloud dancing, water falling, tree throwing, rock wobbling... until they [were] quite out of breath."" As night falls, a storm threatens, and the eerie rose color of the sky conveys Humpty's anxiety, this time due to the ""thundersmasher birds.... Eggs are what they most like to eat."" Not until the three, together, face fear full on in the darkened woods with the storm raging and the birds looming do the skies clear, and Humpty discovers his true identity. Schroeder's use of light-colored pastels in rosy pinks and robin's egg blue against inky dark backgrounds effectively keeps the reader trapped in the dreamlike setting. She plants the suggestion that the tale may be a dream inspired by the book Laura is reading at the outset (above her, nestled in the hollow of a tree, is an egg). Although this may be unsettling to some readers, the images here are hauntingly alive. Ages 5-8. (Sept.)