CHIMNEY-TOP LANE

In translation from the swedish by Lise Somme McKinnon, this is the first person account of Lena Maria Johnson's move to Chimney-Top Lane where at first she is one of ""Lonely We,"" watching the chimney monkey, Tralliputchi. But then she gets a best friend, May, and is awed by Larsa, an enterprising boy who is a little older, and she visits grown-up people on the block, Mrs. Goldberg in her lovely house, for instance. The activities are minimal (a visit to the library; skating; Christmas) but would that that could be Said about the sentiment (""I think she looks like a little blob of whipped cream in a cup of cocoa"" re a new baby) or the jocose locutions (""you'll get chimborazo on your cotopaxi""). Our cotopaxi stiffened all the way up our spine, and even younger readers will probably find that this seems just as long ago as it is far away.