Skunk on a String

PreS-Gr 2—Skunk finds himself in an airborne adventure in this wordless picture book. The opening scenes, done in cut-paper collage, introduce viewers to about a dozen children marching in a large balloon parade. Somehow, Skunk has gotten entangled in a smaller red balloon, and up, up, up he floats. He floats past an apartment building where a nice lady hanging her laundry throws him a pair of boxer shorts to hang onto. Alas, he cannot reach them, and he floats even higher and away to a construction site where a man on a beam offers up his sandwich to grab and hold. That doesn't work, either, and soon Skunk is floating past the zoo and all the animals inside. He tries to grab Elephant's trunk, but one sneeze blows Skunk into the bed of a garbage truck. He has an unsuccessful landing there as well and ends up in the river. Skunk splashes underwater for a moment, then up again he floats over the desert and back to the city, where he falls into one of the seats on a Ferris wheel. Balloonless at last, and safe on the ground, he spies a balloon vendor. The adventure was just too much fun, apparently, for Skunk chases away all the customers, grabs the balloons, and floats off for some more fun. The illustrations are colorful and humorous and enhanced with ink.