AUTHOR DAY FOR ROOM 3T

This cockamamie look at third-grade hijinks opens with the kids in Room 3T aping for their class photo and then settling in (sort of) to prepare for a visit from Harry Bookman, author of “some of the silliest books in the school library.” The children read, draw and sing-and-dance their way through all of the author’s offerings in anticipation of his arrival. They conjecture about his looks and his lifestyle, and they formulate questions for the big day: “Serious questions, about writing and being an author,” their teacher tells his remarkably simian students, “No monkey business.” A series of unlikely slapstick mishaps allows for a case of mistaken identity. And when a runaway performing chimp (in plaid sports coat and purple bow tie) appears at the schoolhouse door, the children actually believe that he is their eagerly awaited visitor. Illogical and antic, with yucks only for youngsters who enjoy the absurd. (Picture book. 6-8)