ALLIGATOR SHOES

Dorros is a newcomer (Pretzels, 1981) with a genuine, offhand comic talent--but this little pleasantry is a 22-page wind-up to a hoary gag. Alligator Alvin, in search of shoes (because--the book's best line: ""He liked watching people. Mostly he saw feet""), gets locked in the shoe store overnight. There he tries on all sorts of shoes--running shoes, dancing shoes, hiking shoes--until, wearying, he falls asleep in the heap of footgear. Says a shopper the next morning: ""I like these alligator shoes."" And Alvin decamps: better alligator feet than alligator shoes. Since today's exercise-culture has spawned an interest in footgear, kids might enjoy seeing Alvin running, hiking, dancing, etc., appropriately shod; otherwise, next to nothing.