Junior-A Little Loon Tale

Children of wetland enthusiasts constitute the likely audience for this environmental bulletin. Father and Mother Loon have noticed that the Maine lake they call home is neither as peaceful nor as clear as it once was. Still, they stay on for the sake of their egg, which hatches one day while they're out fishing. Loon chick Junior, a gray puffball with a mind of his own, takes a look around the busy lake and ``knows right away that there must be less to life than all this''; all alone, he searches for a quiet home among chickadees and seagulls, unaware that his parents are telling the raven and the puffins he's lost. Although the Hassetts ( Moose on the Loose ) describe the ``wild and wonderful calls'' of the loons without mentioning that these songs can sound like shrieks, they otherwise anthropomorphize their characters according to stock types--the authoritative Father Loon, concerned Mother Loon and cynical Junior. Understated illustrations with choppy black outlines and watered-down earth tones add a naturalistic feel that matches the book's anti-pollution message. The only thing missing here seems to be recycled paper. Ages 5-10. (Nov.)