No Need for Monty

That immensely likable alligator from Monty is back, still reliably ferrying the children to school. One day, however, the grown-ups decide that ""the Monty system'' is too slow; surely they can come up with a faster one. As the weeks go by, each method they propose, from skyride to stilts, fails with more hilarity than the one before. Finally, a grinning Monty appears, and the children climb aboard what they knew all along was the best way to go to school``the Monty way.'' As always, Stevenson's messagehere, about the perils of innovation for its own sakeis delivered with an ample dose of humor. The pacing is sure and swift, and the dramatic failures of the grown-ups' deliciously pompous inventions are hilarious. Ages 5-8. (September)