From Publishers Weekly

Illustrator Hallensleben (And If the Moon Could Talk) makes his first solo outing in this gorgeous but problematic jungle book. The title character is a "fuzzy-eared weasel" living in a tree in Africa, but with her cocoa-brown back, cream-colored stomach and black nose, Pauline resembles a kangaroo. One day, she meets a young elephant named Rabusius, and they remain playmates until hunters come along. When the men capture Rabusius and put him on a truck, Pauline saves him by dressing up as a monster in "feathers, paints, and a white mask" and frightening the men. Her minor size is no handicap so long as she wears her shocking chalk-white and blood-red disguise, which looks like tribal ritual garb and violently clashes with the ripe avocado greens and earthy browns of her habitat. Hallensleben provides a triumph of the meek over the powerful, but to do so he must break the conventions that govern people and anthropomorphic animal characters. The four-legged heroine uses strictly two-legged tactics to rescue her friend, and her behavior is inconsistent with the lush figurative paintings of African wilderness. The result is a discomfiting blend of zoology and fantasy, with talking animals vanquishing very real-looking poachers and then throwing "an enormous party" to celebrate. Ages 3-6. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3 In a jungle story reminiscent of Babar (Random) or Curious George (Houghton), an ingenious young weasel named Pauline saves her elephant friend Rabusius from hunters by dressing up as a monster. This is the first book that Hallensleben, who did the artwork for Kate Banks's And If the Moon Could Talk (Farrar, 1998), has written as well as illustrated. His richly colored paintings in thick brush strokes are almost impressionistic; and although the animal figures are simply detailed, almost stiff, he communicates both motion and emotion through the closely linked pacing of the narrative and perspective of the pictures. His text is quiet and restrained, though there's plenty of action in the story. Care and precision are evident in this book whose simple story will be widely appealing at storytime or at home. Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.