The Catalog

When The Green Tiger Press first published this book in 1981 Publisher's Weekly said in its review: "Three mountains just sit, day and night, until a catalog arrives in their remote desert location. Studying the offerings, one mountain decides to order 43 giraffes; the second sends for 61 turtles; and the third decides on 52 bears. The animals arrive in due time, kicking off blithe happenings that grow out of the hosts' ideas for making the company feel at home and the guests' generous reciprocation of favors. The mountains order refrigerators full of food, decks of playing cards, records for dancing and (of course) a record player, and other things the animals delight in. Their gifts to the mountains are depicted in the last pages of Tomkins' exhilaration flight of fancy, a love of a book with pictures so cleverly drawn that the author makes one eager to believe his tale."