Lulu disrupts a day in Walla-Walla by speaking in 'flip-flop chitter-chatter.' Soon her teacher, the principal, and the school nurse are caught in this 'wibble-wobble word warp,' whose cure is as arbitrary and random as its onset. Slick-schtick pen and watercolor illustrations feature caricatures with pip-pop eyeballs and golly-wolly expressions, but the irritating text and ambiguous ending cinches this as one thunder-blunder.

In this breathlessly verbose tale, a rash of compound nonsense words infects an elementary school. Student Lulu exhibits the first symptom when she complains, """"My homework is all higgledy-piggledy. Last night it was in tip-top shape, but now it's a big mish-mash."""" Her teacher scolds, """"Lulu, stop that flip-flop chitter-chatter or you'll be in double trouble!"""" and drags her off to the principal's office. The principal hasn't a clue (""""holy-moly!""""), and the nurse fears an epidemic (""""If we're not very, very hush-hush about this, there could be a mongo-mongo brain-drain and everybody in Walla Walla will be talking like a herky-jerky ding-a-ling!""""). Clements breaks the verbal fever with a brainstorm of rhythmic silliness, from """"Hee-haw, tweet-tweet, chirp-chirp, cheep-cheep"""" to """"boogie-woogie bow-wow, super-duper pooper-scooper!"""" As the tension escalates, Murdocca's (The Monsters' Test) pictures grow more cacophonous. Text tilts sideways and upside-down as the caricaturish people ricochet around the nurse's office; multicolored words, variably sized typefaces and voice bubbles crowd the air. At last, calm is restored--or is it? The teacher bids farewell on the final page saying, """"Ta-ta, Lulu."""" Children with a fondness for wordplay may delight in this dizzying romp, but others may find the rhyme and onomatopoeia a disappointing substitute for plot. Ages 5-8. (Sept.)