Books: Pop Is No Pal

"WHERE DID YOU GO?" "OUT." "WHAT DID YOU DO?" "NOTHING." (124 pp.)—Robert Paul Smith—Norton ($2.95).

This is a reactionary little exercise in nostalgia which will have a whole generation of fathers shaking their heads and murmuring, "Amen!" Novelist Robert Paul (So It Doesn't Whistle) Smith writes bluntly from the notion that, for small boys growing up, the good old days were best. The point is illustrated by the dialogue of the title—"Where Did You Go?" "Out." "What Did You Do?" "Nothing." Author Smith's belief is that today's parent too often knows where his boy...