THE CASTAWAY

Stevenson continues the adventures of his usually intrepid mouse Hubie (The Stowaway, 1990, etc.). Forced to flee the movie palace during a showing of “The Island of No Return,” and then to endure the jeers of his older brother, Hubie is not thrilled at the subsequent prospect of a family vacation on tropical Barabooda. On the way, a sudden storm blows him off the dirigible (this is set in the 1930s) and into a wild but anxiety-dispelling series of adventures with a Crusoe-esque castaway. As usual, Stevenson’s sketchy art looks like it was drawn at breakneck speed, and the snappy dialogue (“Oh-oh . . . we’re going to go over my big bridge!” “What’s wrong with that?” “I didn’t quite f-finish it yet!”) reads like lines from an old-time comedy, but neither the busy comic-book format nor the profusion of dialogue balloons present legibility problems. An incurable shutterbug, Herbie later produces snaps that amaze his oblivious family: “Hubie! Where did you take these pictures?” “Oh, here and there.” Young travelers, timorous or otherwise, will chuckle. (Picture book. 5-8)