APPLEBAUM'S GARAGE

In a book for older children, the author of Galimoto (1990) again explores the joys of creating from junk. Samuel Applebaum, neighborhood fix-it man, and Jeremy, a fifth grader and would-be inventor, spend happy afternoons puttering side by side in Mr. Applebaum's garage and yard, which are gloriously overflowing with other people's castoffs. As Jeremy's best friend starts hanging around with older kids, stealing candy and perhaps vandalizing stores, Jeremy is working on his underground fort at Applebaum's or secretly befriending a mouse in the kitchen at home. After a child falls into the fort and gets hurt, police pressure Mr. A. to clean up his cluttered place and, bereft of his accumulation, he sinks into despondency until Jeremy finds a way to help him feel useful again. The boy's ingenuity is also tested when his parents discover his mouse and he devises a humane trap that enables him to catch and release it. Since not everybody here is as likable or imaginative as Jeremy and Mr. A., it's up to the two of them to demonstrate that a good friendship is based on loyalty and respect. It also doesn't hurt if both parties appreciate great junk. (Fiction. 8-11)