Double Base  Graeme Base and his dog Molly.  Graeme Base and his
dog Molly. Photo: Supplied  October 15, 2006  Words and
pictures, light and shade, Graeme Base covers a lot in his
books. Chris Beck enters his world.  There are moments of
darkness in the diverting and witty children's books of writer
and illustrator Graeme Base. In his latest lavish work of
imagined characters, Uno's Garden, the protagonist and the
pivotal creature die before the world is rejuvenated.  It is
ultimately an optimistic book, with puzzles, about the
environment and our obligations to it. Even so it came as a
surprise that the deaths were dealt with pitilessly.  "I gave it
some thought," Base says, "Do you soften the blow? How do you
say it? Kids have pets that die; kids have people who die. It's
not a book about death. It's a book about regrowth and
rebuilding and positive stuff, but you have to have that little
dark moment so, if a kid sees that and is upset, it is a chance
for the parent or teacher to deal with it."  Base, who l