"I've never had anything to do with the author of a book I was illustrating before," Edward Gorey wrote to Peter Neumeyer in 1968. And yet, the two became fast friends, working together to tell of a dapper and serious lad named Donald who was lucky enough to have a lovely and sensible mum. In Donald and the …, when he finds a crawly sort of creature, his mother lets him keep it in a jar. But then it changes, and what emerges is quite a surprise. In Donald Has a Difficulty, a small operation is called for when the boy gets a splinter. Throughout, Gorey's inky drawings keep the mood mysterious, and these offbeat tales for readers 4 to 8 (and Gorey fans of all ages) are presented in a handsome slipcase.