My Little Brother

According to the narrator of this agreeable tale, her little brother is a bother; in fact, as she writes the book's title on the mirror with lipstick, she adds the first r in brother only as an afterthought. Wishing that he would ``just disappear,'' the older sibling dresses as a witch and tries ``magicking him away,'' but he proceeds to eat the pages of her book of spells. Subsequent efforts to get rid of him (such as by covering the youngster with vanishing cream and feeding him to a ``wild beast''--the family's pregnant cat) prove equally unsuccessful. But when she awakens one night to find her brother's crib empty, big sister conjures up images of horrible fates that may have befallen the child, and is mighty happy to find him, asleep beside the cat and her newborn kittens. Readers who have known pesty younger siblings will relate to this sister's ordeal, creatively rendered by Gliori. Her fancifully detailed watercolors offer a wealth of visual treats--including a colorful variety of patterns and prints on clothing, walls and bedclothes. Ages 3-up. (Sept.)