THE BIG NIGHT OUT

In the first book he's not only written but illustrated, Wickstrom adopts an exuberant verse form, echoing Lear's ``The Owl and the Pussycat,'' to describe the partying of a mouse, a goose, and a ``bear [who] wore a cape he had sewn from a drape,/ With a monocle and a cravat./ (What a dude!)/ With a monocle and a cravat!'' When they leave the uptown club where they've been carousing (over milk and juice), they're broke; rather than trudging home, they beg a ride on a friend's boat. The peg-leg goat-gondolier is no fool: ``I don't work for free...You must pay me with all of your clothes!'' The trio's embarrassment is gleefully enjoyed by a mixed crowd of animals, each a delightful caricature of its human equivalent—as are our heroes, scantily clad in newspapers, sneaking into their house at dawn. Wickstrom's versifying is as adroit as his good-humored, whole- heartedly satirical art, rendered in authoritative pen lines and cheerful color. Lighthearted and funny, a book to try with older groups as well as preschoolers. (Picture book. 4-10)