FAMILIES ARE FUNNY
by Nan Hunt & illustrated by Deborah Niland
A cheery survey of the inconsistencies of the narrator's near and dear: Dad demands instant action when he wants something, but when she has a request for him, his answer is ``Not now...I'm busy.'' Brother Dave is glad to play ball with her, until his friends come over; Uncle Jack asks, ``What do you want to do?'' but then ``we do what he wants to do.'' Still, everyone rallies lovingly round when she gets sick. An Australian great-grandmother authored this pungent portrait of a universal irony; large format and Niland's amusingly exaggerated caricatures of the participants suit the book for group use. (Picture book. 4-8)