ANNIE BANANIE MOVES TO BARRY AVENUE

The stage is set when young Libby declares herself bored senseless, fed up with her piano-playing brother, and longing for a dog. Soon arrives Annie, star of her own picture book (Annie Bananie, 1987), new to the block and accompanied by her giant dog, Boris. They form a club with several other girls, and the book's big moment comes from the meeting of Libby's dog-despising grandmother and Boris. What's at stake? Unless her grandmother kisses the dog, Libby can't be club president. Slight and silly, the book lacks enough characterization to distinguish any of the girls from one another, and the language doesn't reach the standard of a TV sitcom, let alone the heights Komaiko (Sally Perry's Farm, p. 690, etc.) has reached in her picture books. Packed with funny black-and-white illustrations, this is easy to read, but not necessarily worth the effort. (Fiction. 8-11)