ONE DOG DAY

A well-regarded author of poetry for children (A Hippopotamusn't, 1990) concocts a comic literary tale about a 12- year-old who enters her collie in an unusual two-part race for coon dogs: following a caged coon in a rowboat, they swim across a pond, then dash to the base of a pole to whose top the coon has been whisked. Jilly's entry meets the derision of previous winners, arrogant grown men; she doesn't expect to win anyway because, though ``Poetry'' swims very fast, she's just not interested in pursuing the coon for the second lap. The help of an unexpected ally—the judge's son, who gives Poetry a not- quite-unfair motive for zipping to the goal—results in a satisfying upset. Young readers will find these events amusing, but they'll have to get past a slow-moving opening—colorful, skillfuly written, but with a distinctly adult appeal. Still, worth a try—especially, with its folksy dialogue, as a readaloud. (Fiction. 8-11)