As much coffee-table conversation piece as a collection for children, this oversize volume allocates each of 40 spreads to a different animal, portrayed in tepid verse by Forbes and in first-rate cartoons by Searle. Forbes, the president of ForbesLife
magazine, leans on puns ”and then the hippo potty must!”), interest in appearance (“An uptown leopard named Lottie / All the guys consider a hottie”) and grisly demises (“A naughty lad, he took no care, and in the end did feed the bear— / an accident”). Most of the animals are adults, their concerns those of middle age: weight gain, stale marriages, professional advancement. The verse can scan poorly or seem tired (“Her neck is very, very tall / So tall she towers o'er us all” says Forbes of—what else?—a giraffe). Satirical cartoonist Searle (Searle's Cats
) redeems the wacky menagerie. Punctuating pale watercolor wash with inky black lines and splotches, he draws Forbes's hippopotamus hurrying goggle-eyed and cross-legged with urgency to the nearest bathroom, and Lottie the leopard strutting like Cyd Charisse down a red carpet. The aforesaid “naughty lad,” pale and pimply, stands before the bear cage, incapable of interpreting the bear's menacing grin while a tiny, anxious mouse in the corner waves its paws in alarm. (In a child-friendly touch, the mouse lurks in each picture.) For die-hard Searle fans. Ages 6-up. (Sept.)
