Adam Raccoon and the Circus Master (Parables for Kids)
ea. vol: illus. by author. unpaged. (Parables for Kids Bks.). CIP. Chari ot Bks: David C. Cook. 1987. PSm $5.95. Kindergarten-Grade 2 Adam Raccoon lives with King Aren (a lion) in Master's Wood. He works with the king, saves his mon ey, and adores the king as a father. Nothing could tempt him to desert his king until a circus lures him into trou ble. The other caged animals help free Adam, who flees back to the welcoming king. In other stories, Adam indulges in a swim in a forbidden pond and wan ders from the path blazed by the king, both times with attendant bad conse quences, and each time, he is saved by the king. An afterword clearly sets forth the didactic purpose of each book. These stories are meant to reinforce prior religious indoctrination. Adam is like the Prodigal Son in learning that home is best, that to do what the king forbids is to put himself (his soul) in mortal danger. The use of fiction for this purpose is carefully explained as having a Biblical precedent in the para bles of Jesus, perhaps in anticipation of a readership that may be suspicious of metaphor and fiction. The illustrations are roughly rendered pastel drawings with a disturbing visual discontinuity at the gutter, since no inner margins are left to separate the varying perspec tives of pictures on facing pages. Can a mediocre book be rendered good if it expresses the ``right'' values? No. Ruth Semrau, Lovejoy School, McKinney, Tex.Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.