The principal, Mr. Trout, asks parents to apply special conditioner to the children's hair, but the little pests come right back. It turns out Ms. Calypso lives alone and has no one to help treat her tresses. Mr. Trout gallantly offers, and the two fall in love, for an almost happily-ever-after ending. Moss (previously teamed with Durand for The Snoops) includes plenty of solid information as well as loopier touches (as the louse lays eggs, it sings, "Watch the teacher scritch and scratch, When my creepy, crawly babies hatch"). Durand's cartoon humans have Mr. Potato Head features and toothy, ear-splitting grins.

The classroom is realistically littered with bookbags, flying paper airplanes, toy cars, etc., and the children pester one another endlessly: "Ruby undid Polly's braid. Joshua painted on Peter's back. And Sammy trimmed Mark's bangs." Zippy graphics add lots of dash to an already funny text; the paths of lice are indicated with dotted lines and arrows, type fonts shift for emphasis, and passages of text appear under, over and around the spreads and vignettes. Moss and Durand win high marks for their potent combination of comedy and candor. Ages 4-8. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From School Library Journal Grade 1-3-This book pokes good-humored fun at every parent's perpetual school-year dread-head lice. When a mama louse crawls into Ms. Calypso's classroom, she immediately makes a home in the teacher's cascading red locks. The eggs hatch and soon all of her students are infected. Mr. Trout, the principal, and the teacher send notes home, instructing parents to comb a special conditioner through their children's hair so that the lice will slide into the bath water and float away. This works for the children, but Ms. Calypso lives alone and has no one to help her comb the solution through her hair.