MY BROTHER IS A VISITOR FROM ANOTHER PLANET

Is he or isn't he? Initially skeptical, nine-year-old Adam begins to believe it may be true after Keith seems to read his thoughts, turn a lamp off simply by pointing, and make a batteryless stereo produce weird noises. When Keith earnestly asks him to carry a message to his ``people,'' Adam agrees, but it's all an elaborate hoax: after waiting under a rain-soaked tree for over an hour, Adam looks up to see his brother sitting on a branch, hooting derisively. Readers might buy Adam's half-willing suspension of disbelief, but Keith's zeal in pursuing the joke seems excessive; he also has a cruel streak (leaving a hot pepper in the dog's dish—that sort of thing) and never seems to suffer either remorse or retribution. The farce is, at best, mild, while characters show more personality in Brazell's small ink drawings than in the text. As in Sheldon's Harry and Chicken stories, the premise is better than the treatment. (Fiction. 9-11)