GRANDMA DROVE THE LOBSTERBOAT

When the weather gets rough, Grandma takes the helm.

The clanging of the bell buoy indicates choppy water, but that doesn't deter Grandma from her planned adventure with Little Billy. It's Labor Day, so she has the day off. (Most every other day she's running her trash-hauling/snowplow business.) She and Billy are going to relax in the lobsterboat while her son Bill (who has a wee problem with seasickness) tends to the catch. A thick fog rolls in just as it's time to head back. But Bill is weak-kneed in the stern of the lobsterboat, and Billy can't raise uncles Buster or Burt by phone. There's only one thing to do: With Little Billy as her eyes, Grandma takes the helm. It's a heart-stopping ride, swerving past the buoy and veering away from the rocks that support the lighthouse. Thanks to Grandma and Little Billy, the Labor Day lobster bake is a great success, and she rewards him with the biggest lobster he's ever seen. Clark's text is ample, and, while giving empowerment to senior citizens, the tone is consistently tongue-in-cheek. Many of Huntington's seascapes benefit by filling two wide pages. Some readers will wonder at plot holes, including the fact that savvy Grandma relies on her seasick son in the first place.

Spirited and often exciting, if a little ragged.