ONE STORMY NIGHT…; ONE SUNNY DAY…

Wolves eat goats, and goats fear wolves; these companion titles, bestsellers in their Japanese originals, imagine what a friendship between the two species would be like. In the first volume, wolf and goat find themselves together in a dark cave during a thunderstorm. Without knowing what sort of animal he is with, each comforts the other. "I thought tonight was gonna be the worst night of me life," says the wolf, who speaks a British English. "But well, thanks to this, I've made friends with you." The two agree to meet the next day; here the first volume ends, not altogether satisfyingly, and the second begins as, by light of day, wolf and goat discover that they are natural enemies. The text feels lengthy and somewhat repetitious, but Abe's art has a lean, electric power. In Night , the artwork is mostly rendered on black ground, and recalls scratchboard illustrations. Throughout, Abe's expressive lines render the animals in faux-naïf simplicity, with barely restrained wildness, giving the work a childlike energy even when the medium turns to watercolors, as it does at points in Day . Telling first of foes discovering common ground and then about restraining the urge to do violence, these books may serve best as discussion starters. Ages 6-10. (Oct.)