THE SCALLYWAGS

Readers may barely notice the plot here for the glorious chaos in the pictures. Fed up at last when the Scallywags, a big and wildly rambunctious family of wolves, tumble in to ruin a group photo, a sedate community of animals gives them the cold shoulder. Happily, the ostracism turns out to be only temporary. At least mildly repentant, the Scallywags characteristically overdo efforts to clean up their act, and turn into obnoxious prigs—whereupon everyone is happy to see them revert to form as soon as the full moon appears. Melling keeps every figure busy in his populous rustic settings, rewarding close examination with hilarious glimpses of hyperactive wolves learning new, sometimes gross, uses for a toothbrush, clothing, cologne and other tokens of gentility in between scenes filled with flying food and bodies. Closing with a helter-skelter picnic and a messy gathering for another try at a photo, this quick and crazy woodland episode will have children howling for repeats. (Picture book. 6-8)