GATOR ON THE LOOSE!

Ten-year-old Keisha Carter knows a lot about alligators thanks to a report she wrote last year in school. Her knowledge gets a good workout when one shows up at the Grand River City, Mich., public pool, and her parent’s company, Carter’s Urban Rescue, gets the call from the pool manager. Keisha, her fashion- (and age-) conscious Grandma, her father and her rambunctious five-year-old brother, Razi, head out to save the day. Trapping the young gator is only the beginning of their adventure, since Pumpkin-Petunia, as Razi dubs her, turns out to be an escape artist. Good thing Keisha’s friends are as can-do as she is. Stauffacher’s first of a new series, with two more slated for this year, will please the animal lovers of the comfortable-with-chapters set. If it belabors environmental consciousness, seems self-consciously multicultural and swings toward the didactic when animal issues come up, fans of the Animal Ark series won’t mind. (Though all will be glad Razi’s not their younger brother, since he pushes the bratty-brother envelope often.) Lamont’s spot and full-page illustrations are a nice addition. (Fiction. 7-10)