WATCH THE HOUSE

Left along, five household pets (a Labrador, two cats, a guinea pig, and a canary) escape for an adventurous day outdoors, coping with an attacking hawk, a hostile porcupine, and a nest of hornets. The canary gets lost; one of the cats nearly drowns; and when they all finally come home, they have to contend with two skunks who have wandered into the house, but then they tidy up in time to seem innocent when the family arrives. Whayne strikes just the right balance here between anthropomorphism and realism: each animal has a distinct personality and voice (the dialogue is particularly well done). Short sentences, paragraphs, and chapters and a generous number of appealing drawings make the book look invitingly easy, but it isn't ``written down.'' A good vocabulary-builder for intermediate readers. (Fiction. 7-10)