Where's My T-R-U-C-K?

Somewhere on the continuum between the egomaniacal Anthony from the Twilight Zone's "It's a Good Life" episode and William Steig's sulking Spinky, you'll find Beaumont and Catrow's Tommy, a boy who is inconsolable about the loss of his favorite toy: " %E2%80%98Shhh!' I hear my parents say,/ %E2%80%98Tommy's not himself today./ He's lost his T-R-U-C-K!' " It's not as if Tommy is without options%E2%80%94it's clear he has plenty of toys, as well as two willing playmates ("My brother says, %E2%80%98Let's climb a tree.'/ My sister says %E2%80%98Play house with me' "). But as every kid knows (and seldom admits), it's what you don't have that matters most. From the very first spread, where a deflated, embittered Tommy sits in the middle of a very big chair, it's clear that readers are in for a very funny encounter with a memorable personality. Catrow doesn't let a single spread go to waste, whether he's capturing the ongoing, id-driven antics of Tommy's inadvertently heroic dog, Bowser, or portraying Tommy having a rare analytical moment while hanging upside down from a tree. Ages 3%E2%80%935. (Sept.)