DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH

A profoundly silly book—a book with rules. Mr. Frimdimpny, a dour alligator, makes the rules: do not laugh, do not even smile, and if readers do, they must go to the front of the book. Pierre the waiter is so ticklish in a certain spot that he has marked it with a red X so that no one will touch it. The temptation, of course, to touch it will be great, and Pierre has his huge tray of food balanced just so. Mr. Frimdimpny peeks in to make sure readers aren’t laughing. An elephant with a cold is made to sneeze, a hippo in a glass store is made to dance, and the dour alligator is back to check—any smiling going on? Before the book is out, it is Mr. Frimdimpny who must return to the front of the book, in this wicked send-up of all those rules adults make. A giggly masterpiece. (Picture book. 3-9)