WHEN AUNT LUCY RODE A MULE

Zelda and Stella, the girls regaled with their grandmother's funny recollections of a family trip (When Grandma Almost Fell off the Mountain, not reviewed) now visit Aunt Lucy, whose initial disclaimer (``I don't recall any stories'') proves to be as comically at odds with her subsequent narrative as her mother's was. Pausing only to urge more cake on her enthralled guests, Aunt Lucy describes visiting her grandparents, where the recounted events verge intriguingly on tall tale (Did Grandpa really free a crow from a determined turtle?) and many of the doings are instigated by her own irrepressible aunt, Cissie. The girls' amazed queries propel the narrative; and Porte gives her own audience some painless practice in keeping generations straight. By slipping in a question of fact near the end (Aunt Lucy recalls that her Aunt Cissie and her sister, now Zelda and Stella's grandma, each believed as an adult that the other was stung as a child by bees attracted by her flowered hat), Porte hints slyly that such tales may change with time. Again, Chambliss adds even more gusto to the story with cheerful watercolors on every page. Fast, funny, and pungent. (Young reader/Picture book. 6-10)