A KNOW-NOTHING HALLOWEEN

In the wake of A Know-Nothing Birthday (1997), noodleheads Boris, Morris, Doris and Norris—and their puzzled puppy Floris—begin rambling around the holidays. Here, while Doris is out shopping, the men discuss such activities as bobbing for apples—only they don’t know any Bobs, and they soon tire of waiting for him to bring in the apples. Then a bit of trick-or-treating ends when a sheet-clad ghost sends them fleeing home in panic-stricken rout. Terror temporarily turns to tears when they find a “witch” in the house, and decide that she’s turned Doris into a chair. Even Doris takes off her mask and begins to weep. Readers will cry too, from laughter, at the antics of this addlepated quartet, depicted by Alley in tongue in-cheek-cartoon style. On to Thanksgiving (see below). (Easy reader. 6-8)