FREE LUNCH

Seibold and Walsh (Monkey Business, 1995, etc.) bring back their heroic white dog, Mr. Lunch, who learns that the new owner of the bird seed company he patronizes has started to substitute rocks for seeds. When the birds harvest their own seed, the evil new owner spies on them (``He did not like to see birds eating free seed. He did not like many things'') and has Mr. Lunch arrested on trumped-up charges. The legal system fails Mr. Lunch, but his bird friends don't, alerting him to an abandoned ruby mine under his jail cell. Effecting his escape, Mr. Lunch discovers the old owner of the bird seed company imprisoned in the ruby mine. Freedom is theirs, and justice is served. Mr. Lunch is a winning agent of good, even if he is also one strange dude, living in an unconventional world. As for the illustrations, chances are that readers won't confuse them with anyone else's work. (Picture book. 3-8)