The Delicious Bug

Willy and Wally, usually the politest of chameleon friends, lock horns%E2%80%94well, tongues%E2%80%94over a "bumblebug" they've both caught. As their eyes bulge and their tongues latch onto the bug, tempers flare: "Just back off, Shlobberface!" "Why don't you back off, dragonlipsh!" Ample sound effects animate the pages, as do vertical panels that run along the main spreads. Only the threat of becoming lunch for two crocodiles forces Willy and Wally to reconcile. It's a comic reminder that warring parties often end up looking foolish%E2%80%94and hurting innocent bystanders, too. A concluding sequence shows Willy and Wally making amends for the damage their fight has caused ("A thousand pardons," Willy apologizes to a "beaky bird," whose nest was a casualty). Perlman (The Penguin and the Pea), whose animated film is the source for this book, is more interested in drawing comedic action than she is in zoology, and the cast of cartoon characters is a combination of actual species (tomato frogs, lemurs) and invented ones (beaky birds, bumblebugs). Still, it's a helpful and lively lesson in cooperation and friendship. Ages 3%E2%80%947. (Sept.)