MYSTERY OF THE ANGRY IDOL

A chinoiserie is (a) a Chinese objet d'art or (b) something of inordinate complexity. Only (a) applies here to the rather simple story of Janice Pendleton and her stay in Mystic, Connecticut where her great-grandmother lives in an old house with a valuable collection of ""Chinese treasure."" At first, Janice is homesick but then she gets involved with the message in the Chinese idol, Old Fang-Tooth, and the redemption of the boy suspected of attempting to steal it. At the end, Janice is happily reading Sara Crewe in her room with the four-poster bed and the faded rosebud wallpaper. Once again, the details are expansive and the atmosphere is certainly benign.