Poof Point

Norton and Marigold Bicker, the crackpot inventors introduced in The Tiny Parents , are at it again, and this time they've gone over the top. While building a time machine they miscalculated, and now they are growing younger mentally while their bodies remain adult. It is up to the couple's long-suffering children, 12-year-old Marie and nine-year-old Eddie, to save them before they regress past the ``poof point,'' the moment of birth. This slapstick tale, in the spirit of Daniel Pinkwater's best, never misses a beat as the authors spin out scene after hilarious scene of children having to act like grownups while the grownnups act like children. Even better, as Norton and Marigold pass the poof point, Weiss and Friedman add a totally unexpected, side-splitting twist to the already breathless fun. Ages 8-12. (Nov.)