ALBERT'S STORY

He put the thing on his back."" That is the story that Albert tells his slightly older sister Mildred, and when she expresses dissatisfaction he says, ""That's all I know."" But gradually Mildred's prodding elicits a more complete story, concerning the little boy down the street (""he"") and a baby dragon (""the thing""), which he put on his back so its baby breath of fire would keep his (the boy's) ears warm. This might have been an amusing sideways glance at both stories and children; unfortunately Glasser's drawings of Albert and Mildred conversing in a spacious playroom have too little action, too little tie-in with Albert's story (only a stuffed-toy boy and dragon for suggestion), and no twists of their own for interplay with Long's.