THE FIELD BEYOND THE OUTFIELD

Ludlow Grebe's daydreams become too much for his parents, who sign him up for ``something real'': Little League. He ends up so far back in the outfield that he becomes a participant in the next field's game—in which all the players have six limbs and the stands are filled with monsters. In that game, he hits a home run. The lunatic realism in Teague's acrylics recalls that of William Joyce: solid, clearly limned shapes, small figures in spacious scenes, a weird sense that there's nothing unusual about a team of giant, grinning green beetles. The understatement of the brief, simply phrased text magnifies the humor. Another eye- roller from the author of Moog-Moog, Space Barber (1990). (Picture book. 6-8)