The Flying Latke

If the Three Stooges had played the sons of Yiddish-speaking immigrants,they might have stepped into this slick shtick. The plot features feuding relatives who start a food fight on Hanukkah and pitch a latke out the window; the latke (don't ask) is mistaken for a UFO. Characters ""plotz"" and ""fress"" and ""shmooze""--everything but play canasta. Steig's work is far in the background--literally. Using digital techniques, Yorinks (Hey, Al) with Colin treats Steig's drawings as a theater set and collages in photos of ""actors"" hamming it up (you should pardon the expression). With ""parts"" dealt out to Steig and his wife, artists Maurice Sendak and Vladimir Radunsky as well as children's publishing folk David Saylor and Judith Rovenger, the book has the tone of an in-joke, with an equally limited appeal. Ages 5-up. (Oct.)