The Rules — Marty Kelley

K-Gr 3-Escalating the wry humor shown in his previous work, Fall Is Not Easy (Zino, 1998), Kelley's multiethnic cartoons will tickle kids' fancy while the rhyming text will remind them of grown-ups' directives regarding everything from clean underwear to rubber-band guns. Eat your peas./Don't swear or curse./Don't scratch, you'll only make it worse. The colorful illustrations depict irreverent interpretations of children breaking those rules, which range from the universally comic (as a boy enhances his features while playing with food) to the base (plenty of toilet and runny-nose gags). This bouncy, quick read will be a great icebreaker when talking about safety or parent relationships.-Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.