MERWIN: Master of Disguise

This cheesy tale of a mischievous elephant, illustrated in black line and marker on a white ground, resembles a cheaply made TV cartoon. Merwin is a stocky biped with the one-track mind and the blue coloration of Yogi Bear, the difference being an interest in costumery rather than pic-a-nic baskets. He confiscates "every pair of lost sunglasses, every misplaced cap, every forgotten jacket" at the unnamed zoo where he lives, and uses these "countless disguises to sneak out of the wild animal park, right under the park ranger's nose." After stealing a car and heading for a shopping mall, Merwin outwits the ranger by pretending to be a mallrat (backwards baseball cap, high tops, hoop earring) and a baby in a stroller ("Goo goo," he says). Hijinks include the infuriated ranger tearing the clothes off chubby shoppers whom he thinks might be Merwin. Ultimately, Merwin dresses in camouflage fatigues like the ranger, causing his nemesis to be mistaken for an elephant and carted away. Hart, creator of how-to-draw books like Manga Mania, keeps returning to the same visual gag: the smarmy, grinning elephant, hidden in plain sight. He adds no fresh material to this comic retread. Ages 3-7. (Sept.)