THE ZABAJABA JUNGLE

A boy has a dreamlike adventure in a mellow, fantastic, inimitably Steig-imagined jungle. Unlike Sendak's Max, Leonard doesn't know why he finds himself slashing his way into the previously unpenetrated vegetation; he just knows he must push on. There are "squawking birds and raucous insects" as well as hungry plants. He explores a petrified monster, from gullet to "the great cloaca." Napping in a hammock, he wakes to find a heap of snakes beneath him, and "wishes he was home in bed." But not yet—there are still to be encounters with a shy bird named Flora; a giant flower; and a group of mandrills, who take him to court for drinking the nectar of the Jabazaba Flower (he escapes by setting off a fireworks display) before he frees his parents from a glass bottle and shows them the way home. As always, Steig's pictures are comic, full of lovely nuances of color and design, and lead the eye pleasantly from page to page. This may be Kafka's benign flip side, but why not just relax and enjoy it?