Dinner at Magritte's

Young Pierre finds that weekends in the country outside Paris are a little too dull for his liking. There are no children to play with, and his parents sit ``still as stone.'' But a visit next door soon changes all that, because Pierre is lucky enough to have as neighbors surrealist artist Rene Magritte and his wife, Georgette. On this particular day the Magrittes' friend Salvador Dali is invited to dinner, and an exciting affair it is-flying fish soup and partridge pie (the fish really leap and the birds still fly!). And before dinner, Pierre finds himself occupied with a croquet game (with a limp mallet) and a dash through the rain (cats and dogs tumble from the sky). Garland's droll text (``Did you dilly, Dali?'') is complemented by Magritte-style oil paintings filled, appropriately, with surrealist images: Magritte's bowler hats, Dali's melted clocks, etc. A useful note sets Magritte and Dali (and Garland) in context. Paying tribute to the magic of surrealist art and to the ever-active imagination, this work is eerie, fun and inspiring. Ages 6-9. (May)