MUCH ADO ABOUT ALDO

by Johanna Hurwitz ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 30, 1978

With eleven-year-old sister Karen's longing to see her father's name in the phone-book unfulfilled, along with thirteen-year-old Elaine's wish for pierced ears, this might be the start of a series--and it couldn't happen to a likelier boy than ""most interested student"" Aldo or a more likable family than the humorous, down-to-earth Rossis. What interests Aldo particularly at the moment are the crickets in the third grade's four terrariums (among them George and Martha Washington and Sonny and Cher), so it's bad news for him as well as for the crickets when four insect-eating chameleons arrive to demonstrate the next step in nature's food chain. Suddenly, his healthy appetite is gone; and by dinner he's decided ""that I don't want to eat any more animals,"" a declaration that the Rossis take in their usual jocular stride. Aldo's first days as a vegetarian are not too hard--lots of peanut butter and jelly, cream cheese and jelly, jelly without peanut butter, jelly without cream cheese--and meanwhile the cockroaches haven't settled down enough to eat the crickets. But when they do, Aldo acts--and the resulting brouhaha airs the animal-slaughter issue (and spares the crickets) without deciding Aldo's course one way or the other. A serious, funny book with character: what more is there?

Pub Date: Aug. 30, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1978

Categories: FICTION