Books: Baby in the Jungle

THE DONKEY INSIDE—Ludwig Bemelmans—Viking ($3).

Ludwig Bemelmans has the face and physique of a divinely inspired, slightly intoxicated baby. Born & raised in Austria, he flunked out of a school for boneheads, came to the U. S. in 1914 (he was 16, two-pistoled in readiness for New York's Redskins). Here he wrote and illustrated classics for children and adults, became known as a fey genius whose private life was as original as his books. Better known than he cared to be, he announced to his publishers: "I am leaving America to escape to...