BORIS THE BORING BOAR
by Ellen Jackson & illustrated by Normand Chartier
He may be fuzzy and appealing in Chartier's gentle watercolors, but Boris is a quintessential bore: when he isn't talking about himself, he's meandering through the inconsequential (``...they don't make tin cans the way they used to...I remember a tin of sardines I found in '83. Or was it '84?''). Abandoned by his acquaintances, he's captured by a hungry wolf; but while the pot comes to a boil, Boris makes a fortuitous discovery: inquiring about the wolf's teeth and fur (``Do you blow-dry it?''), he gets him talking about himself- -charming the wolf into thinking him fascinating. Whether or not it prompts embarrassed self-appraisal, the comical dialogue here is as much fun as the deft caricatures in the well-crafted art. (Picture book. 5-8)