Leon and the Spitting Image is about a hotel full of animals. It's about an evil ice maker. It's about glass eyeballs and human catapults. It's about really old panty hose and Possibly Fake Hair. But mostly it's about Leon Zeisel and his epic quest to survive fourth grade. What's stopping him? Two things. First, there's Miss Hagmeyer. She's a supernaturally strict teacher with ears that resemble giant rotting mushrooms. And then there is Leon's archenemy, Lumpkin the Pumpkin, a human tank with a deadly dodgeball throw known to all as the sidewinder. Luckily, Leon has two friends, Lily-Matisse and P.W., who will stand by him no matter what -- even if his magical, mysterious plans for rescue and revenge involve ... SPIT! Leon Zeisel is in big trouble. He is perpetually exhausted due to an overactive icemaker in the hotel where he lives, he discovers in his mother's desk a confidential envelope from his school announcing that he displays "a troubling lack of fine motor skills," and worst of all, he begins fourth grade under the tyrannical tutelage of Miss Hagmeyer, a black-cloaked, black-wigged, mushroom-eared woman who is obsessed with sewing, a fine motor skill if there ever was one. Insisting that all instruction should stem from the Middle Ages and "The Heavenly Stitches of Virtue," the Hag forces her students to sew an "animile" per month, a stuffed animal of sorts that is not to exceed four s.p.i. (stitches per inch) in the inseam. What happens when Leon decides to sew his end-of-year "Master Piece," the "spitting image" of Miss Hagmeyer, an exact miniature replica down to her liver-colored panty hose? Allen Kurzweil creates a magical, eccentric world where, as in many of the most satisfying children's books, adults are benevolent but flawed--and kids are in delicious control of them. Fans of Daniel Pinkwater's novels will feel right at home with this clever and suspenseful underdog-turns-champion story with a dribble of magic. (Ages 8 and older) --Karin Snelson Grade 4-6-A comic story with a touch of wish-fulfillment fantasy. Leon lives in the rather wacky and seedy New York City hotel where his mother works. The Classical School, which puts particular emphasis on handicrafts, presents a problem for him, as he is challenged in the area of fine motor skills. The villain of the piece is Leon's fourth-grade teacher, Miss Hagmeyer, who wears pantyhose the color of cooked liver and who has a curriculum based on the sewing of stuffed animals. In response to a threat that he may have to repeat the year, Leon sews a doll that is the "spitting image" of the teacher and by chance discovers that by manipulating it into different poses, Miss Hagmeyer follows suit as if in a trance. Leon and two friends then plot to get her to put a pair of her pantyhose over the head of the school bully. Kurzweil's humor is light and funny in relation to Leon's home life and friendships, but has more of an edge to it in the school-related scenes. The author handles the element of magic in a believable way. Less credible, however, is the speed with which his hero changes from being a "two stitches per inch" sewer to being capable of making a doll that looks like a human, even to the gnarls in the ears. If readers can suspend disbelief, they will enjoy the entertainment that Leon and his friends provide. Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. Gr. 3-6. Fourth-grader Leon Zeisel must contend with a vindictive class bully, a mysterious teacher, bad marks for weak motor skills, and downright weird homework in this children's debut by an adult novelist. Nervous Leon already has his hands full when his "masterpiece" final-exam project is improbably dipped in spit, and Leon and his friends discover it has magical powers to control its spitting image: the seemingly evil teacher, Miss Hagmeyer. Strangely, the book's metaphysical elements end there, leaving other magic to vanish into thin air. The quirky goings-on at Leon's urban hotel home and offbeat school will engage interest, however, in this unusual blend of fantasy, mystery, and problem novel. For larger libraries. Vicki Arkoff Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Allen Kurzweil is the prize-winning author of two novels for adults— A Case of Curiosities and The Grand Complication —and two works of fiction for children— Leon and the Spitting Image and Leon and the Champion Chip . A recipient of numerous grants and awards, including fellowships from the Guggenheim and Fulbright Foundations and the New York Public Library Center for Scholars and Writers, Kurzweil is currently a fellow at the John Nicholas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization at Brown University. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife and son.