Fun, No Fun

Those who cheered Stevenson's When I Was Nine and Don't You Know There's a War On? will find the author/artist's latest return trip to his childhood equal cause for celebration. Here Stevenson--helped by his characteristically winsome watercolors--playfully muses on what was ``fun'' and what was ``no fun'' when he was a boy, juxtaposing the two with engagingly dry humor. The ``fun'' list includes cowboy boots, baseball hat and cookies with raisins; the ``no fun'' equivalents are galoshes, cap with flaps and cookies with no raisins. Some of the author's reminiscences conjure up a vanished past (``The five-and-ten had small wires along the ceiling. Small boxes went rattling around the store to where people made change''), but many of his experiences could easily take place today (``Fun was being a Cub Scout. No fun was going to a Cub Scout meeting if you had to walk past tough kids to get there''). Adults as well as kids will grin knowingly at the affable Stevenson's observations. Definitely ``fun'' for all. Ages 5-up. (Apr.)