KIRKUS REVIEW
What's worse than Frankenstein and King Kong and. . . Mayor Daley? ""A middle-aged, tall, firm-chinned, frosty-eyed, beautifully mannered English Governess."" And when one arrived with his visiting niece, Uncle Harry decided he and Janie had to escape, which they do in this bit of self-inflating fluff stuffed with allusions that will be lost on children. The CIA, the Establishment, Agent Fifty-four-Forty and the Serpents for a Snaky Society are only some of the confrontations for Uncle (a second-rate ventriloquist), niece, and his talking pets--two dogs, two horses (one named Jon-Jon), a donkey, a cat and an owl. Sharing their adventures is (nudely met) Princess Natasha Ivanofsky Maria Antoinette Frederica Eugenie Grendle Hapsburg-Baker, a soul sister who falls right in with their non sequi-tour of a National Forest and who turns out to be, not surprisingly, wife to Harry and mother to the little girl he's putting to sleep with this story ten years later. Daughter Katherine Anne won't be the only one dropping off-just a new Left-over.