THE BIGNESS CONTEST

Beasley, a huge hippopotamus, would like to be best at something, but with his ungainly bulk he's a loser at gymnastics and running. When Aunt Emerald encourages him to find something at which he can excel, he decides to become the biggest hippo— not by exercising but by gorging on cake and ice cream. He wins, only to realize that his cousin Borofil is both bigger and lazier. So now Beasley ``works'' at becoming the laziest hippo, lying in the river for hours on end; and when he does win the laziness contest that his aunt accommodatingly sets up, he's too lazy even to smile. Heide's brisk narration is certainly meant to be tongue-in-cheek, and Chess's illustrations of fat, pink, loosely clothed hippos are comic caricatures of their human counterparts. Even so, the parody falls flat. It's a shame to spend so much talent on such an unfortunate premise. (Picture book. 4-8)