The Cave of Snores

In this shrewd and diverting story of foolery and mystery, a boy's initiation into snoring takes place in the empty, dark spaces of the Cave of Snores, a place his father had once tried to explain to him. But, as soon as his father began the tale, he stretched, yawned and dropped off to sleep. Now that his father snores no longer, the boy sees what danger hovers around his campsite. The moon is down, and the wolves are circling the sheep; Kabul the wizard and his band of robbers are closing in. What can a boy do to save his camp? He goes to sleep. His ""snores,'' like his father's before him, drive the wolves away and bewitch the bandits. Readers are smoothly hoodwinked into following the path of the narrator in his nightmare; amnesiacs and snorers' victims may do well to heed the suggestion to ``stuff their ears with wool.'' Beddows's nocturnal world of bogeys, wolves and night watchers is breathlessly captivating; black-and-white pictures perfectly depict the dark abyss of the dream world. Ages 5-9. (April)