ALDO PEANUT BUTTER

When their parents have to leave them alone for two weeks, Aide and his sisters, Karen and Elaine, muddle through a series of gently humorous episodes: Aide (vegetarian, incipient veterinarian, and very much his own person) is training two puppies with varying degrees of success and considerable damage to the house. Elaine turns her hair green and eats the dog biscuits that Karen makes; both girls have to flee, barefoot, from the rampaging lobsters Aide has freed in the kitchen. Aldo and best friend DeDe also identify the mysterious vandal who's destroying neighborhood lawns, after which Aide helps a neighbor rent her house. Hurwitz's usual joie de vivre lights up this latest in a popular series; warm, loving, Wholesome, sensitive, funny--Aldo's family is delightful. De Groat's lively, appealing b&w drawings perfectly complement the text. Ideal for early independent readers, this should please Alde's fans while making him new ones.