Sunday, June 25, 2006

Lugalbanda: The Boy Who Got Caught Up in a War: An Epic Tale From Ancient Iraq , by Kathy Henderson, illustrated by Jane Ray (Candlewick, $16.99; ages 8-12). Let's be honest: This is the kind of book that makes kids' eyes glaze over when Mom or the librarian trots it out. While adults might be fascinated to learn from the foreword that Lugalbanda's is "one of the oldest stories in the world, older than the Torah, the Bible, the Koran, . . . older even than the Epic of Gilgamesh ," most kids won't even have gotten past the brownish cover with its solemn, lapidary lettering and frieze-like illustration. What's 5,000 years to a 10-year-old? What, really, is Iraq?

Yet Henderson is right to argue that the tale of Lugalbanda, thought to be the father of Gilgamesh, is "much too important to be left to the world of adults." It is also the living opposite of dull. Just consider the setup: Lugalbanda is the youngest son of Enmerkar, a powerful king of the first dynasty of Uruk, in what is now southern Iraq. Across the mountains lies the legendary city of Aratta, brimming with art and treasure. Enmerkar, naturally, decides to go plunder it. Lugalbanda gets to go along, but he falls ill during the dreadful mountain crossing and is left behind. How's that for riveting? Not only does our young hero face a lonely death in a stark, craggy wilderness, he's one of the bad guys . And that's all before he figures out how to pray, before he secures the favor of the terrible Anzu bird, "monster of the skies," before he rejoins Enmerkar's army and. . . . But let's not ruin the suspense. Rest assured that even for 10-year-olds this story of ancient warfare will lend perspective to today's news out of Iraq.

Readers should also ignore that sober dust jacket. Inside, the book is packed with Jane Ray's jewel-toned watercolor, ink-and-collage paintings, some dramatic, some slyly humorous. One spectacular double spread is all black -- the interior of the mountain cave where Lugalbanda is left for dead -- except for a tiny opening revealing snowy, sunset-lit peaks beyond, symbols of life. In another, the little prince strikes a fire from two stones, thinking himself utterly alone, as dozens of pairs of eyes watch from among the owl- and fox-haunted rocks. Kids who find Lugalbanda appealing should be steered toward Geraldine McCaughrean's Gilgamesh the Hero (Eerdmans, 2003) and The Librarian of Basra , by Jeanette Winter (Harcourt, 2005).

Birdbrain Amos, Mr. Fun , by Michael Delaney (Philomel, $16.99; ages 7-10). A few years back, Michael Delaney published Birdbrain Amos , a dryly witty tale about a bug-plagued hippopotamus and his oddball river friends. It was an easy-to-read chapter book fit to be shelved with the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle yarns and Ruth Stiles Gannett's My Father's Drago n but also a good bet as a read-aloud. Now comes a sequel, nearly as funny as the first. Amos has settled down with Amoeba, his personal tick bird, but, lo! Amoeba is restless: "There's nothing to do! I'm tired of getting wid of bugs!" (Amoeba isn't good with her r's.) To prove he's actually Mr. Fun, Amos consults a vulture moonlighting as a travel agent and comes up with a plan for a vacation in the Serengeti. When Amoeba's friends and relations decide to tag along, the stage is set for a river trip filled with setbacks (the hilarious crocodile traffic jam, the fateful fork in the river), triumphs (shooting the "wapids") and the nonstop random banter that is Delaney's trademark.

Henrietta: There's No One Better , by Martine Murray (Arthur A. Levine, $9.99; ages 7-10). Henrietta P. Hoppenbeek the First, as she styles herself in this unconventional and highly entertaining easy reader, is quite a girl: half a Hen and half a Rietta, future Queen of the Wide Wide Long Cool Coast of the Lost Socks, big sister of the sewing-machine-sized Albert, chocolate ripple cake-lover, chair-guitar player and a bit of a poet. "Maybe I would like to be a cloud, but I can't be sure. I know I would like to be superb, like Uncle George's new car." She's exhillperating and expasperating , and it's no wonder her mother needs coping tools. "Mom sat cross-legged and said, Omm. It calms her down. I watched tv. It calms me down." Not so much a story as a slice of Henrietta's life, exuberantly illustrated in her favorite red and occasionally busting out into her personal handwriting, this is a book to inspire budding memoirists everywhere.

--Elizabeth Ward

(warde@washpost.com)