Tales Of Woodsman Pete

November 1, 2006
When Monty Python was in bloom, John Cleese often got the biggest laughs standing still, blank faced, saying nothing. He didn't even need to be reacting. The funniest frames of Carre's stupefyingly droll stories, which feature either woodsy north-country he-man Pete and his best friend, Philippe the bearskin rug, or archetypal woodsy north-country he-man Paul Bunyan and his best friend, Babe the ox, frequently show Pete or Paul doing the same thing--nothing. Oh, once in a while, Pete might be waiting for the other shoe to drop. Babe is definitely the mental giant of the four protagonists. Carre's Wanda Gag-like drawing style is the perfect vehicle for her off-kilter imagination, which thrives in the knowledge that stereotypes of masculinity are so fundamentally foolish that it doesn't take much--a beautiful day, a work break, skipping stones on a lake, watching the moon--to expose their ridiculousness.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)