MOUSE TV

All ten mouse family members are TV addicts, but each prefers a different kind of program. Papa likes action, but Mama wants comedy; spectacled Pinky favors science, but Sally loves music and Elmer watches game shows. Meanwhile, in screen-shaped frames, Novak lampoons the subspecies of each type—Laszlo's history in nine periods (cave-mice chased by a beach-toy dinosaur, a pig-pulled chariot, a turtle-tank war, mice on the moon); Melba's scary features (a mouse mummy, ghosts, and extraterrestrials); etc. Arguments crescendo during commercials (like real ones, these rival the programs in ingenuity). Then the TV fails, so the mice—now joining together—engage in activities that they have hitherto only watched: They explore, make things, sing, put on a play, and at bedtime Papa reads an adventure story. ``And best of all, there were no commercials.'' In a hundred and some frames, Novak outlines TV's offerings (excepting sex and, save in very mild forms, violence), giving a comically incisive visual summary of each in his cartoony illustrations. Delightfully imaginative, with dozens of witty details to discover and share in the deftly drawn art. (Picture book. 4+)