The Hungry One

Rum Tum Tum, the single-minded Hungry One, consumes absolutely everything in his path, until he becomes smitten with a ``saucy miss.'' Rejected by the girl's father, he vengefully eats them both seven years later; when jailed, he devours his prison. Baumann ( Three Kings ) blends a Grimm-like tale and a psychological theme into a compelling if odd and unsubtle story--in which, unfortunately, the thudding rhythm of the couplets becomes annoying. Eidrigevicius's artwork here is marginally less bizarre than in his earlier Little Pig, but his illustrative masks remain an acquired taste--though they suit this narrative better, zeroing in on the Hungry One's voracious face or his victims' reactions. The picture-book format may put off the older target audience; indeed, this commingling of abstract and abstruse art with an unrelievedly somber story will likely be of interest primarily to adults with a taste for the avant-garde. Ages 10-up. (Mar.)