The Blossom family has an especially eventful weekend during which Junior Blossom loses the school hamster and Pap's dog Mud is put on trial for the hamster's murder! A little like A Midsummer Night's Dream, this fifth romp with the Blossom clan flits lightly from amusing episode to hilarious set scene, the characters mixing, matching, and eventually sorting themselves out. Maggie and Ralphie (who now, with the help of his artificial limb, is bicycle-borne) are having a lovers' spat; old Mad Mary (the Vulture Lady, and Junior's best friend) has disappeared; Junior has the honor of keeping Scooty, the class hamster, for the weekend--but Mud, Pap's dog, seems to have eaten him and is now hiding under the porch while the distraught Junior vows vengeance; and Vern and his friend Michael form a sort of chorus with a perpetual case of uncontrollable giggles that they can quell only by thinking of a real joke. After one of the best trial scenes since Freddy the Detective (1932), with the jury turning out to be the culprit and the victim turning up happily unscathed, all is forgiven with just a few more delightfully comic twists. There's no reason to single out a best Blossom book--this is as funny as any, its wit nicely laced with pungent good sense. (Fiction. 8-12) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. "Byars captures the conflict and tension of courtroom drama, the ups and downs of personal relationships, and the rewards of lasting friendships." -- School Library Journal , starred review. An ALA Notable Children's Book, A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Edgar Allan Poe Mystery Writers Award, A Child Study Children's Book Committee: Children's Book of the Year, A Junior Literary Guild Selection. The Blossom family has an especially eventful weekend during which Junior Blossom loses the school hamster and Pap's dog Mud is put on trial for the hamster's murder! "Byars captures the conflict and tension of courtroom drama, the ups and downs of personal relationships, and the rewards of lasting friendships."-- School Library Journal , starred review. An ALA Notable Children's Book, A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Edgar Allan Poe Mystery Writers Award, A Child Study Children's Book Committee: Children's Book of the Year, A Junior Literary Guild Selection. family has an especially eventful weekend during which Junior Blossom loses the school hamster and Pap's dog Mud is put on trial for the hamster's murder! "Byars captures the conflict and tension of courtroom drama, the ups and downs of personal relationships, and the rewards of lasting friendships." -- School Library Journal , starred review. An ALA Notable Children's Book, A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Edgar Allan Poe Mystery Writers Award, A Child Study Children's Book Committee: Children's Book of the Year, A Junior Literary Guild Selection. Betsy Byars, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, received a degree in English from Queens College there. Currently, she lives in Clemson, SC with her husband, a college professor. They have four grown children--one son and three daughters--and five grandchildren. "My own hobbies," Byars says, "are rather quiet. I like to read and do needlework, and I love animals. But my husband has some very interesting hobbies, and through him, I've learned to fly and earned my pilot's license. Together, we fly all over the United States. Since our children are all grown now, we also travel a great deal in Europe, but we take commercial flights because our plane is not really equipped to make transatlantic flights." From the Trade Paperback edition.