THE FROG BAND AND THE MYSTERY OF LION CASTLE

Just to follow the antics of the Frog Band and frog sleuth Alphonse le Flic in this latest escapade will probably take a few run-throughs--worthwhile only for youngsters sufficiently captivated by the pictorial detail (most of which is immaterial) not to mind losing the thread of the story. The Frog Band arrives at Lion Castle one New Year's Eve to repair its disabled lorry just at the time that Alphonse appears overhead in a gas balloon--which is suddenly punctured by one of the castle's aerial masts. (No impertinent questions, please.) Host Brooker Lion is not only happy to be of service, he's delighted to have company--and he regales them with the tale of ancestor Clarence de Lyon who disappeared once upon a time and has reputedly been haunting the castle ever since. Unraveling that mystery takes Shortie Frog into the dungeon where he pulls down a lever. . . that empties the castle moat. . . just before Alphonse and Brooker fall through' the ice into it from the newly-repaired, quickly-repunctured balloon. But in the dry moat Alphonse and Brooker discover a secret exit--through which Clarence de Lyon presumably disappeared. And if he didn't vanish into thin air, so much for the ghost! Whether any of the picture-book following you know will last this long you'll have to decide for yourself--keeping in mind that we've left out every possible (or impossible) complication.