DICK FOOTE AND THE SHARK

Dick Foote is a sea-fearing poet, his father a sea-faring Philistine. Commissioned to write a poem about the ocean, Dick sails with his father to find out first-hand and proves that poetry can be useful: his ode charms an attacking shark and saves the boat. "And they say in the town that John Foote kept his frown And complained about Dick Just the same. But a glimmer of pride that he couldn't quite hide Shone out when he spoke his son's name." A sportive saga illustrated with aplomb by the limner of The Forty-Ninth Magician (1965) but without quite the stylish wit of its predecessor—and a lot of verse for a short voyage. This won't draw as a picture book (the flat black-and-white is relieved only by the gray-green Sea) but it could be good fun read to a group.