Max's Dragon Shirt

It's hard to imagine anyone--child or adult--getting his or her fill of the indefatigable Max, who always manages to get his way no matter what. Here, the bad-news bunny and sister Ruby go to a department store to replace Max's beloved, stained overalls, which are held up by a safety pin. They have five dollars for a new pair of pants, but Max would rather spend the money on a more exotic item. ``Dragon shirt,'' he keeps insisting in his delightfully pithy, ever-determined manner. While Ruby is trying on dresses, Max slips out of the changing room and wanders into Boys' Sportswear, where he finds a rack of shirts emblazoned with a dragon's face. By the time Ruby catches up with her impish brother, he has dribbled ice cream all over the dragon shirt--which happens to cost exactly five dollars. Max wins again, as does Wells ( The Little Lame Prince ; Shy Charles ) . Her droll sibling interplay is perfectly on target, and her inimitable bunny is as irresistible as ever. Ages 3-7. (May)