Good Guys, Bad Guys

With droll exaggeration, the collaborators introduce an Odd Couple sibling pair whose personalities, as first limned, are polar opposites. Witness their divergent approaches to dental hygiene: one is “a bad guy,/ sniffly and slouchy,” whose “teeth are missing/ (hates to brush)—/ doesn’t really matter/ mostly eats mush.” The “good guy” sibling is pictured emerging “squeaky-clean” from a shower, toothbrush in motion: “Doesn’t eat sugar,/ loves vitamin A—/ teeth are brushed/ twelve times a day.” The two share robust imaginative powers, with feisty friends, who fall into either the bad guy or good guy camp, playing attendant roles. The bad guys are marauding pirates, one of whom makes another walk the plank into a backyard pool, while the good guys, crackerjack swimmers, practice their strokes. The crews interact when the good guys don capes to apprehend their nemeses, at odds at least until bedtime reveals a faux good vs. bad construct. Rocklin (Love, Penelope) offers jaunty verse whose energy is amplified with crayonlike mixed-media art by Carpenter (Thomas Jefferson and the Mammoth Hunt), and both bolster the wry conclusion to this lighthearted tale. Ages 4–8. [em](May) [/em]