It Came from the Swamp

In this story by the illustrator of the Rotten Ralph tales, set in the Florida Everglades, Alfie the alligator learns that he can't play baseball and eat at the same time. After sustaining a rather hard ``bonk'' on the head, Alfie runs off in a stupor. He is pursued by well-meaning friends, but he is in a state of amnesiac paranoia and hotfoots it out of the park. The addled Alfie finds his way into the home of an endearingly dizzy woman who is also nearsighted. Mistaking Alfie for her husband, she feels Alfie's cool reptilian forehead, declares him sick and plops him into bed. ``She put what she thought was an icebag on his head . . . what she thought was a thermometer in his mouth. . . . '' But Alfie sits with a handbag on his head and a toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. The real husband comes back from his walk as Alfie's alligator pals catch up with him and the crazy antics continue. Rubel's humorous text is augmented with lots of visual gags. Her extremely colorful, zany illustrations are festive and cleverly bordered with different kinds of palm trees and tropical plants indigenous to Florida. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)