TROUBLE RIVER

Doubled trouble met with resilience and good humor. His parents away so Ma can have her baby in a hospital, Dewey Martin has to manage a raft escape from Indians for Grandma, Charlie the lamed dog, and himself. From the moment Grandma sees the nine-log Rosey B (a stunned silence, then "This here's the boat?"), Dewey has more than the threat of Indians to contend with. Cranky and imperturbable Grandma sits imperiously on her rocking chair as he poles them downriver to the Dargans' cabin. It's his first time afloat and every graceless move and wrong-way turn is greeted by backseat driving: "Are we stuck?" "Yes'm." "I told you." The trip isn't easy but with visions of a good meal and firm protection they reach their destination, only to find the cabin burned, the Dargans disappeared. They go on toward Hunter City but before they find the Martins ("and me looking like a scalded chicken") they face wolves and the rapids. Not as nimble or as consistently warming as last year's The Midnight Fox (p. 1111, J-409) because of some obtrusive remarks from the author, but even if Grandma has all the good lines it's Dewey's show and kids will cruise right along.