ROOMS FOR RENT

Mr. Murgatroyd the landlord "was small and shriveled and as bitter as medicine because of the mean, hard life he had led, and he talked to himself because of his loneliness," but even though he gleefully charges "too much" for his cobwebby rooms, he has no trouble renting them to "a little wispy woman with a wooden leg, a man who pushed his mermaid wife in a wheelbarrow, Mrs. Piper and her 20 children, and a black bear who plays the flute." Of course Mr. Murgatroyd grumbles when, once installed, Miss Wispy fills the place with plants, the children paint colorful jungle scenes on the walls, the bear plays duets with a brown bear violinist, and the mermaid's husband lures birds and butterflies to the house with crumbs and honey. However when the tenants all move out together in search of a more bracing and cheaper home, he finds the house so deserted that he hangs a "for rent free" sign on his door and hurries to catch up with them. Jenny Williams' cheerfully fanciful but minimally interesting pictures just barely fill the vacancies in Malay's unrenovated version of the greening of a grump.