Lyle at the Office

The much-loved crocodile of Manhattan engages in a quintessential venture: visiting a grown-up (in Lyle's case, Mr. Primm) at work (an advertising agency). Affable Lyle has a grand time delivering memos, working the copy machine, sitting in on ``a very important meeting'' and, most of all, playing with the children in the day-care center. But when the boss, Mr. Bigg, sees Lyle as a potential product promoter and Mr. Primm balks (``Lyle will never say, `Yum, Yum, Yummy Yum, Yum,' nor will his picture be on a cereal box''), both Mr. Primm and Lyle are shown the door. When Halloween rolls around, Lyle heroically rescues Mr. Bigg from a mishap in the ``haunted house'' Bigg is renovating, and in due course Mr. Primm is reinstated in his job--as long as Lyle promises to pay frequent visits to the office. Lyle has aged exceptionally well since his first appearance ( The House on East 88th Street ) some 30 years ago: he is as winsome as ever, and this new tale combines the charm of the first, somewhat quaint stories with a contemporary freshness. The art is, if anything, brighter than that in the previous books. An enticing reappearance on all scores. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)