My Grandma's Chair

Smith here infuses her words and pictures with the same capricious imagination she displayed in There's a Witch Under the Stairs , and the result is a similarly refreshing work. The story starts off realistically: Alex explains how much he likes Grandma's overstuffed, threadbare armchair, in which he does a handstand, draws, reads and chats with her parrot. But when he declares, ``I think I could live in Grandma's chair,'' this ordinary piece of furniture becomes a throne in which Alex, as king, presides over a treat-laden table (around which is gathered a marvelous menagerie); a swing suspended from an apple tree; the base of a hot-air balloon that carries him across the ocean to Portugal; and, finally, a boat in which he sails toward the setting sun. It is an itinerary that kids will want to follow again and again, each time finding additional details in Smith's whimsical paintings. These borderless, kaleidoscopic delights threaten to spill off the pages--adding further zest to a sparkling outing. Ages 4-up. (Apr.)