GRANVILLE JONES: COMMANDO

Third-grader Granville, small for his age, tries to blend in by wearing camouflage fatigues, and stands out by telling everyone that he knows karate. When his parents put a crib in his room, after painting it blue and hanging curtains with balloons, he thinks he’s in for some kind of punishment—that he’ll have to sleep in the crib—toying only momentarily with the truth: A baby is on the way. Granville, who happens to be best friends with Jonah Twist (The All New Jonah Twist, 1986), is a winning sort of oddball, but his family, from deliberately mean older sister Amy to thick-headed parents (the bedroom makeover and purchase of disposable diapers are accomplished before they approach Granville with the news of the baby), is just plain unlikable. The parents allow Granville to eat more than 19 consecutive meals of cans of beans (in his misbegotten scheme to glow in the dark); Honeycutt wears out Granville’s subsequent gastro-intestinal troubles with scene after scene of his “popping.” Although there are many children for whom Granville’s concerns over his smallness will be only too relevant, there are far fresher takes on the much-worn new-baby premise, and far better books from Honeycutt. (Fiction. 7-11)