MICE ON ICE

With the zip, the semi-puns, and the pop ingenuity of a bright TV cartoon, Yolen tells of a Mice Capades kidnapping engineered by Gomer the Rat King, a mouse gone bad, and executed by Gomer's henchmen the Four Muscles. As Miss Rosa Burrow-Minder rises on her hoist at the end of a triumphant performance, Gomer uses a magnet to lift the Mice Capades star up and out through the top of the tent; then he sends a ransom note demanding ringmaster Horace Hopper's secret ice formula. Instant ice, an underground hideaway, a ceiling escape hole, and quick action by Miss Rosa's little sister Ruby all figure in the rescue. From the opening lineup for tickets (with gypsy moths reading fortunes) though the accelerated final chapters (titled, caption-like, "The Big Fight," "Pawto-Paw," and "After the Melt"), a fast easy read with more punch than most.