SYD HOFF'S BEST JOKES EVER

Best ever? Though it's hard to tell with kids' joke books, these could just as validly be described as oldies but baddies. Hoff continues to rely on such topics as washing one's hands for Mother, asking Dad for money, and report cards and ""lickings"" (even the slang is old-fashioned); and he goes in for puns on running noses (used twice), changing one's mind (also twice), making cents, missing school, and a ghost's favorite haunts. Among 50 cartoons and over 200 Q-and-A two-liners, there is just one new twist, and that inadvertent: ""Did you have a yen this summer? Yes, we were in China.