In Diane Stanley's delightful sequel (Putnam, 1999) to Saving Sweetness(Putnam, 1996), little Sweetness is no longer an orphan. She, and the other orphans, were all adopted in the first book, and now things should all be maple syrup and hotcakes. Well, things are, but syrup doesn't really belong on potatoes, if you get my drift. Their new pa is a well-meaning man, but he is somewhat flawed when it comes to the basics of day-to-day survival with children. The kids are quick to catch on that this man desperately needs a wife who can teach him that forks aren't for combin' hair and peanut butter doesn't really go with spaghetti. Not that they're complainin', mind you. Things are better than they were, but they could be better yet and, with Sweetness's help, they will be. This old-west story, with a touch of the tall tale, is read in a slow and easy fashion by Tom Bodet, who handles the first-person narrative with just the right level of cluelessness. Appropriate background music and occasional sound effects augment the presentation. Younger children will enjoy the story, while older ones will catch all the tongue-in-cheek humor. Teachers will delight in the wordplay. This story has more figurative language than a hound dog has fleas. All in all, this is a delightful production that's good for just plain listening, and for seeing good writing in action as well.--Teresa Bateman, Brigado on Elementary School, Federal Way, WA Copyright c Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.