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"Stay out of my lab," medieval alchemist Magnus Bede warns his apprentice son, Yorick, in William Steig's The Toy Brother. But, of course, the lad can't resist the lure of that old black magic and before you can say "Orknis-borknis, foofle-kedoofle," he accidentally shrinks himself to the size of a sausage! Alas, poor Yorick! Alackaday and Gadzooks! Can a happy ending be conjured up? Caldecott medalist Steig has wonderful fun mixing this soupcon of suspense with the medievalisms and sly anachronisms of his text and when you add his wonderfully droll drawings to the formula, it's obvious that the real alchemist is not Bede but Steig, who effortlessly turns his 26th book for children into solid-gold fun.