UNCLE LOUIE'S FANTASTIC SEA VOYAGE

In a galloping compendium of kiddie-book clichÉs (drawn to match), young tinkerer Rusty goes to stay with junk-dealer Uncle Louie and finds him building a paddle steamer--with mad-magician crony Millstone--to sail off to Africa. A strong wind comes up--coincidence or Millstone's magic?--and the voyagers crash-land on a shore where, mirabile dictu, there's a ""typical African hut,"" a zebra, a rhinoceros. Africa, as Uncle Louie happily chortles? No, the local zoo, from which Rusty's reproachful parents soon retrieve them. Millstone is dejected, but pity the poor reader.