GEORGE AND MARTHA

"Five stories about two great friends" — a pair of hippos named George and Martha. The stories are as diminutive as their principals are gross, and there's nothing heavy about the moral verities tucked in among the nonsense. Thus George learns after pouring Martha's pea soup into his loafers (because "I just can't stand another spoonful") that "friends should always tell each other the truth," and when he peeks through Martha's bathroom window she crowns him with the tub to teach him that "there is such a thing as privacy." The pictures — of George trying to roller skate or to ascend in a balloon, of Martha gazing into the mirror — hold up their end of the "lovable blimp" load, and though this George and Martha won't go down in history, they are worth looking in on.