DON’T STEP ON THE CRACK!

McNaughton (Oomph, p. 416, etc) takes the old warning about stepping on a crack and turns it into a series of less-threatening mishaps: one wrong step, and you might suddenly turn into a pig, or a girl (“your worst nightmare”), or your father might become a “hippy,” your dog might wee on a massive punk, you might forget to put your trousers on before going off to school, and so forth. It’s not just any crack that will do this, of course, it’s the crack—and there’s no telling which one that is: “It might not even be in this town!” Adults get the worst of it: picture mom in platform shoes and purple stretch pants trying for “a younger look.” The broadly comic cartoons may draw some giggles, but on the whole this uninspired flight of fancy never gets off the ground. (Picture book. 6-8)