ODDS ON OLIVER

Greene's first foray into humorous fiction for a younger audience than her popular series about Al and Isabelle. Since preschool, Oliver has had one ambition—to be a hero. Now he's finished fourth grade and is still trying, but misses his chances in one misadventure after another until, on the Fourth of July, his dog chokes on a chicken bone and he's able to save her with the Heimlich maneuver. The book as a whole is sitcom-like—slick and fast-paced, with lots of action and little depth, and without the serious touches that distinguished A Girl Called Al (1969)—while Oliver lacks Al's memorable quirkiness. A graceless caricature of a fat person, U. Crumm, the town clerk, who literally has to be hoisted off a restaurant floor after consuming six helpings of chili and seven of pie, and then slipping on an ice cube, seems unfortunate. Illustrations not seen. (Fiction. 7-10)