From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5-- Five preposterous stories and narrative poems depict some unusual domestic catastrophes and their creative solutions. ``Bubble Trouble'' deals with a bubble that wafts a baby up into the air until, finally, a pebble shot from a sling-shot (shades of Kahl's The Duchess Bakes a Cake Scribners, 1955; o.p.) brings the child to safety. Word play and alliteration make this nonsense verse a good read-aloud. In ``The Runaway Reptiles,'' an alligator and crocodile disguised as elderly grandparents by their caregivers meet over the back fence, fall in love, and elope. ``Hiccups'' tells, in lilting rhyme, about the transfer of a baby's hiccups to an unsuspecting granny. ``The Gargling Gorilla'' is another ludicrous tale of a young boy who is afraid of gorillas and imagines one hiding under the kitchen cupboard. Finally, ``The Springing Granny'' is a lighthearted verse about a woman who, in winter, creates her own tropical paradise until spring returns. Slight and contrived as these five pieces are, children who have mastered beginning readers may be tickled by the inventive words and zany situations. Sketchy line drawings in black-and-white look amateurish, but capture the craziness of the stories. Not a priority purchase, but harmless fun. --Sally R. Dow, Ossining Public Library, NY
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