BOBBIN DUSTDOBBIN
by Susan Patron & edited by Mike Shenon
The baleful bit of under-bed dust introduced in Five Bad Boys, Billy Que, and the Dustdobbin (1992) has a daughter; and though her ``Papa Hob'' is now Billy Que's fast friend (they play checkers), Bobbin worries about the old man's broom. Rightly so: when he and her papa bake a cake and the five boys turn up to share it, they seize on the broom to do Billy Que a favor. Bobbin, however, is well acquainted with the useful litter on Billy's floor; while the boys feast, she disables the broom with scissors, and after Billy decides not to replace it (``I never did like to sweep''), Bobbin rewards him with his own lost key— in a neat little broomstraw basket. This doesn't have quite the surprise of Patron's earlier story; nonetheless, it's clever, told with verve, and funny enough to entrance a restless group— especially as illustrated with Shenon's dust creatures, drawn with a wonderfully agile line, and his appealing rowdy boys. (Picture book. 4-8)