Rubber Legs and White Tail-Hairs

From Publishers Weekly Fans of McManus (The Grasshopper Trap will welcome these 27 little excursions into the life of the narrator "Pat," the author's alter ego. His humor is directed at fishermen, hunters, campers, gun-swappers, little boys and willful weather. All but the last two are recognizable. Deliberately "simple," the humor is always good-natured: the worst character is a prissy, visiting auntand she turns out to be a nice person in the end. The settings are all in the West, often in Pat's boyhood town of Delmore Blight, Idaho. Boyish pranks and adult foolishness get the mostattention, with the usual cast of McManus characters: Retch Sweeney, Rancid Crabtree, wife Bun et al. Among the best pieces are "Angler's Dictionary" ("Best fishing timeYesterday or last week. Worst fishing timeNow.") and "Advanced Duck-Hunting Techniques" (see the Toilet Tissue ploy). It's good, clean, old-fashioned fun. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. From School Library Journal YA McManus' anthology is a loony look at human foibles in the backwoods and byways of life, but it is more universal than that. The outdoors and activities thereof are, for McManus, vehicles for showing the crazy side of human nature. Fishermen are not the only ones who will find meaning in the ``Angler's Dictionary,'' and almost anyone will laugh knowingly at ``Muldoon in Love.'' These short pieces with long laughs should have special appeal for reluctant readers. Karl Penny, Houston Public LibraryCopyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.