MARCY HOOPER AND THE GREATEST TREASURE IN THE WORLD

Marcy loves to read but can't spell; she imagines fantastic adventures but is a klutz when it comes to jumping rope or learning to ride a bike. Failing to make it into the treehouse (for a planned day's reading) without a boost from her brother, she sets out on her own to the distant hills, where she encounters first a grass nymph who advises her to ``seek if you would find,'' and then a fierce dragon. Using her wits, Marcy escapes—without the dragon's treasure, but with a new regard for her own abilities and potential. A simplistic message: if Marcy has a learning disability, as her symptoms suggest, hard work and self-reliance may be essential to overcoming it, but they aren't likely to be sufficient. Still, an appealing depiction of a third grader confronting her real dragons in an imaginary guise suggested by her favorite books. (Fiction/Young reader. 7-10)