@RUTGERS.ARPA:Q.QUUX@[36.48.0.1] (03/13/85)
From: Alderson@Score /amqueue writes: >Can anyone identify the titles or author of a series of children's books about >three siblings, two male and one female, of whom the older boy is named >Malcolm, and the younger, Theodore, is known as "The Toad". The kids have a >dowager mentor, Mrs. Dextrose-Chesapeake, and a male tortoise-shell cat, >coveted by Mrs. D-C due to its genetic impossibility. The Toad engages in >such unsavory activities as writing semi-obscene filks to "Good King >Wenceslaus" and practicing home voodoo with a kit ordered through a comic book >ad (the kit works). I know of two, the earlier of which details how Toad got the cat. The "mentor" is no such thing, she's a nosy old biddy who lives next door. The second book, in which Toad becomes a voodoo practitioner, is _Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians_. Mrs. Coverlet is the maid who takes care of the three sibs (the girl's name is Janet, by the way), while their father, a drug company salesman, is gone for extended periods. The first book had Mrs. Coverlet's name in the title as well, but as my copy is located somewhere east of the continental divide, it's hard to check on it. The first book dealt with a wonderful potion Toad brewed for his cat, which made everyone who used it wonderfully healthy. He sold it for $1 a bottle. It turned out that he was including his father's vitamin samples as a major "secret ingredient," thus losing about $2 on every transaction. I understand he is now working for the Pentagon. Rich Alderson -------