cover image George Told Kate

George Told Kate

Kay Chorao. Dutton Books, $10.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-525-44293-6

What George tells his younger sister Kate is enough to give her elephant-size frets and worries. When Kate must clean her room, George tells her she will get spanked if she doesn't do a good job. When Kate attends her first day of school, George tells her that if children don't write well in school the teacher will hang them by their feet from the ceiling. When the neighbor's moving van arrives, George tells Kate it will take them ""away to a new house.'' It's only after small Kate imagines herself in truly terrible circumstances that she learns George, a rapscallion in his rakish cap, was only teasing. Children who have to contend with devilish older siblings will delight in the three short chapters of this charming book. Ages 36. (April)