THE VICAR OF NIBBLESWICKE

The nervous new vicar's youthful dyslexia suddenly resurfaces in an odd form: Certain words come out of his mouth reversed. Thus, advising a group of first communicants on how to accept the wine, he cries, "You must never plug it...What you must do is pis. Pis gently." After a stream of similar incidents, the vicar sees a doctor who reassures him ("Back-to-Front Dyslexia. It is very common among tortoises...") and prescribes a simple cure: walk backwards. And so the vicar does, through a long and happy career. Dahl wrote this story (and auctioned the rights) to benefit the Dyslexia Institute; the book is slim but handsomely designed, with a series of cheery pictorial vignettes and a brief tribute to the late author from his frequent collaborator, one of Britain's leading comic illustrators. Just a dram of Dahl, but vintage. (Fiction. 9-12 & adult)