A LITTLE TIME

Sarah loves her mongoloid four-year-old brother Mattie, but she also resents him bitterly when his presence drives off the only friend she's made since moving. There are other problems too: Mattie gets into things, monopolizes Mother and wears her out, and sometimes Sarah lashes out at Mattie when she's really unhappy with herself. When Mother's health cracks under the strain and Mattie is sent, tentatively, to a foster home, the whole family (there are five kids in ail) has more fun and freedom; but his clinging to Mother on a visit conveys his feelings about the arrangement, and later the others agree that he should again be part of the family. There is more of the social worker than the artist in Baldwin's approach, but she is a sympathetic listener who lets the family members express their individual reactions and work out their own accommodation.