FLYING

Seemingly complex artwork offers big rewards for readers who meet its demanding appeal. Two towers—more like rockets, each one somewhere between an obelisk and a crayon—are standing side by side when the smaller one whispers a ``secret'' to the other. In order to get to that secret, readers are meant to struggle through unorthodox, pencilled scrawls, color patches, and playful design elements, and ponder an array of wacky, puzzling characters who find distinct ways to fly: A yellow bear fills up balloons; a frog has a flying machine; other creatures construct wings. The secret turns out to be a message: ``Flying is easy!'' Pacovsk† (The Little Flower King, 1992, etc.) scores well for the notion that, from a child's point of view, clarity and complexity are often equivocal, particularly in the visual medium. This book has at once the appearance of a hoax and the expression of a genuine message about creativity and effort at the primal level. (Picture book. 6-10)