JENIUS

In a book subtitled "The Amazing Guinea Pig," Judy is determined to show everyone that guinea pigs aren't lacking in brain power. She gets her chance when her pets produce a "child of their old age." Jenius (Judy doesn't spell "correcktly") is reared to be "the best-trained, most brilliant guinea pig in the whole world," proud of his easy mastery of dog tricks and even able to unlatch his own hutch from inside (resulting in a near- fatal brush with a tomcat). His "swelled head" annoys his parents who seem preoccupied with each other and who laugh at their son when he flubs his big performance on Pet's Day. In what is meant to be a humorous parallel, Judy's parents are equally dismissive of her—"Buzz off now, there's a girl." In the end, Judy's father may have to eat his hat (and Jenius's father, a plastic water bottle) but this cleverly constructed, easy reading fantasy by King-Smith (Mr. Potter's Pet, p. 532, etc.) is not up to his best. (Fiction. 7-9)