THE MYSTERIOUS ZETABET

Z.Z. . . . Z-z-z-z. . . ."" Musing on his wonderful initials, Zachary Zwicker dozes off--and awakens in Zyxland where the alphabet is the zetabet and reads ""ZYXWV. . . ."" To avoid being turned into a zombie, Zach must identify the Zyxland national flower (zinnia), jewel (zircon), musical instrument (zither), coin (a zinc zloty), and so on; he soon catches on to the Zyxlanders' tricks and so correctly identifies the great South American river as the Yamazon--but rebels when he learns that all he gets to eat as a Z-Number-One Zyxlander is zucchini and zwiebach. Zach has to pass still another test of wits to get back to America (a forbidden word because of its first letter), but he comes through in fine style. Kids will enjoy the challenge, and except for a few curve balls such as zloty, which will be accepted as odd knowledge (it's the Polish coin too), they'll be able to appreciate Zach's answers even when their own don't come as fast.