MANGABOOM

Although this tale is somewhat disjointed, its tender bonhomie compensates. A boy, Daniel, happens across an enormous pink slipper at the foot of a huge mango tree. He clambers in and is hoisted aloft, where he meets Mangaboom—all 19 feet and 682 pounds of her—who tells him of her favorite pastimes: skinny-dipping and turning cartwheels. Two pieces of mail arrive with Daniel: an invitation to her aunt's for tea with three bachelor giants, and a love letter from someone named Grizwaldo. He begs Mangaboom to write, but before she can retrieve his address on the envelope, her goat eats it up. Crestfallen, Mangaboom heads off with Daniel to tea, where her suitors turn out to be dreadful rubes. Happily for Mangaboom, but unhappily for any potential drama surrounding the lost address, Grizwaldo writes the next day, saying he'll drop by that evening. Daniel takes his leave, though not without getting a glimpse of Grizwaldo (who looks a great deal like a giant Daniel). On the saucily suggestive last page, it looks as though they'll go skinny-dipping that night. Snippets of Spanish give this story an exotic air, and the affection the storyteller has for her characters is evident, even though a plot is not. Lobel's gouaches give a heroic touch to the proceedings, with Mangaboom's colossalness often bleeding right off the page. (Picture book. 5+)