Do you know someone who doesn't think there's such a thing as too organized? Help them lighten up with this odd, odd, wonderful book.

America's increasingly vivid bureaucratic organizational nightmare is Winn's fodder for laugh-out-loud parody and intricate illustrations that would be perfect mixed-tape covers. If you know George Saunders, PLEASE hep him to this one--it may be hard to find, but EVERY PAGE here is a potential Saunders short.

Three sets of children in our extended family grew up loving this book, and friends who are professional clowns also raised their son with it.

The lesson, that you can do anything if you work hard enough, goes down with sugar. Archie wants more than anything to be an acrobat. He and his team practice every morning, hard. They do headstands, handstands, one-man hold-me-ups and balancing acts.

Then Aurion J. Pelderfettle, owner of Pelderfettle's World-famous circus, happens into town. The acrobats plan all night for their week-long audition. They make all kinds of fantasic formations--a pyramid and stockbrokers' umbrella, a sea horse and Bozo the Brontosaurus. Pelderfettle is impressed, but not enough. The acrobats make one last try at the Parent's Day Bazaar.

They stumble out onto the hot lawn, Archie dressed like a cherry. A-one, a-two, a-three, they form an ice cream cone--which "melts" from their exhaustion. Pelderfettle hires them on the spot and Archie's acrobats are soon very famous indeed. Kids eat it up. Alyssa A. Lappen

I first borrowed this book from my local library in 1985, and continued to do so, always returning it late, then suddenly it was gone, no explanation from the librarian, just a stony face. Now in 1998, I got it from Amazon.com, and it's just as brilliant!!!