OH NO, ONO!

Dutch author de Beer (the Little Polar Bear series) introduces a winningly playful—and more than occasionally hapless—pink porker. "Ono was a very curious piglet," the story begins, and a small, framed watercolor showing Ono quizzically nudging a hedgehog sets the mood for the next 10 spreads. De Beer devotes each of the right-hand pages to a briskly related incident, while the left-hand pages translate the event into wordless comics-style panels. "It was raining so Ono was trapped inside the barn. He was bored," begins one typical sketch. Interfering with the resident cat's yarn play seems ill-advised, but Ono barges ahead with gusto. As in all the spreads, the pig's impulsiveness leads to a hilarious dilemma—he gets "all tangled up"—prompting de Beer to declare his refrain, "Oh no, Ono!" A spot illustration below the text sums up the outcome: Ono and the cat end up tied back-to-back. De Beer makes no attempt to link one vignette to another, or to teach Ono a lesson (although he does apologize to a squirrel he has wronged). The result is a book that's bracing, silly and—because it can be enjoyed in single-spread bites—a good choice for wiggle worms just like the hero. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)