JOHN MIDAS IN THE DREAMTIME

Fans of The Chocolate Touch will like finding young John Midas in another improbable fantasy adventure. On a family vacation in Australia, John enters a forbidden cave and finds himself propelled far back into the past. Like the Connecticut Yankee, he proceeds to set the society he finds on its ear, ""inventing"" fire, cooking and the boomerang, as well as teaching kangaroos to jump and tying the Rainbow Serpent's tongue into a knot. Unfortunately, this is prefaced with a tedious catalog of Australian tourist sights. Catling also displays a condescending attitude toward the Aborigines, who, though supposedly ancient, not only lack all hunting skills, but also make comments like ""We've been on the go all morning. Twenty miles for nothing!"" and ""What are we going to tell the women this time? ""Mild humor does not compensate for such stereotyping, nor for the superficial glance at native Australian life and folklore,