SKYWATER by Melinda Worth Popham (Ballantine:...

SKYWATER by Melinda Worth Popham (Ballantine: $4.95). In this engaging novel, Popham tries to create a mythology for coyotes, the way Richard Adams invented one for rabbits in “Watership Down.” The title of the novel is taken from the coyote’s vision of a celestial realm, and it seems appropriate that desert animals that expend so much energy finding water would imagine a paradise of lakes and fountains. But aside from that central concept, the coyotes share a disappointingly scanty mythos: An animal as slyly resourceful as Popham’s Brand X should command a vast fund of humorous tales, explaining the origins of the world and illuminating the relationship between coyotes and humans. Popham mixes an account of Brand X’s spiritual journey with the story of the aged human couple who named him: Albert and Hallie Durham Ryder are interesting, vital characters whose shared life deserves to be explored more fully.