THE GREAT CORGIVILLE KIDNAPPING

A delectable companion to The Corgiville Fair (1971), in which Tudor employs conversational prose to revisit the pastoral setting and farmyard inhabitants of the original. Caleb Corgi turns determined detective with the kidnapping of Babe, "the biggest rooster on earth who made a yearly sensation at the Corgiville Fair." The scoundrels in this case are rumored to be Hiram Racky and his band of evil raccoon radicals, soon to be outwitted by the well-educated Caleb himself. Complete with an old-fashioned hot-air balloon escape and the aid of Charley Crow, the story finds Babe eating amaretto biscuits on his way back to Corgiville, where a full-fledged celebration awaits. Within this rousing good guys/bad guys tale are cheeky animal characters outfitted in vests and topcoats, sophisticated humor, nods to Julia Child, Gertrude Stein, and others who will not be known to children, but Tudor's devotees will love this caper, and others will want to go unearth the first work. (Picture book. 7-10)