THE HEY HEY MAN
illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott & by Sid Fleischman
Beware the Hey Hey Man, especially if you are a thief taking off with a boot full of gold. In the guise of helping this runaway villain, the Hey Hey Man ("a banty little man" in short leather breeches) gives him a nose as long and lumpy as a horseradish root and ears as big as cabbage leaves. He conjures a horse that brings the thief back where he started from, and to top things off he turns the gold into fleas. This is told with Fleischman's usual read-aloudable colloquial punch, and illustrated in kind with a sorry-looking variety of critters and a flair for comic commotion.