THE ADVENTURES OF ARCHIE FEATHERSPOON

High-flying antics and over-the-top silliness bring this tall tale to life. Archie Featherstone and his mother live in Boot Junction, Texas, and though she can “plow a field better than most men, and coax her hens to lay enough eggs to feed the whole state of Texas,” she can’t get her boy to do his chores. But as much as Archie loves to invent rainbow rockets and concoctions to keep bears away, he loves Ma (and the promise of her fried chicken) more. So off Archie goes to plant the field. In true tall-tale fashion, Archie is picked up by an errant twister and deposited in a town besieged by Buster and the Bully Boys. Archie comes up with a plan worthy of Thurber’s Quillow or Jack of fairy-tale fame, but his trick is found out when his own sweat ruins his “corn pox.” Humorous situations and exaggerated dialect punctuate this easy chapter book. Spacious typeface, predictable story line, wacky cartoon illustrations, and raucous humor add up to another enjoyable title in the Ready-for-Chapters series. (Fiction. 7-10)