CLAY BOY

Ginsburg (The Old Man and His Birds, 1994, etc.) borrows freely from Russian folklore to create her own version of the tale of the ravenous clay boy. When Grandpa molds a little boy out of clay and dries him by the fire, he doesn't count on the boy having a will, or an appetite, all his own. The clay boy gobbles down all the food in the house, topping it all off with the farm animals and then Grandma and Grandpa. The monstrous child sets off down the road, eating everyone he meets and growing to gargantuan proportions. The clay giant seems unstoppable, until a clever goat butts him in the belly with his horns, smashing the boy like a flower pot, and rescuing all the people and creatures he's devoured. Ginsburg's tale stimulates a child's level of fear and excitement perfectly, and Smith's lumpy, opaque paintings of the clay boy are grand. Fans of the gingerbread boy and Jack Kent's retelling of Fat Cat (1971) will relish this hungry clay Frankenstein and his shattering comeuppance. (Picture book/folklore. 5-7)