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THE OWL IN THE ATTIC—James Thurber—Harper ($2).*
BIRD LIFE AT THE POLE—Wolcott Gibbs —Morrow ($2).
U. S. humor, ornithologically considered, consists largely in giving somebody the bird: cuckoo, mocking-bird or pompous ostrich. Funnyman Thurber's is half-ostrich, half-cuckoo; Funnyman Gibbs's is all mocking-bird.
With an air of being just as bewildered about life as you are, James Thurber gives advice on peculiar pets, grammatical teasers. He tells in a wide-eyed way how Mr. Monroe was an open book to Mrs. Monroe though he fancied himself cleverly written. One of the puzzling problems in the "Pet Department": "My police dog has taken to acting very strange, on account of my father coming home from work every night for the past two years and saying to him, 'If you're a police dog, where's your badge?' after which he laughs (my father). . . ."
Are you worried about split infinitives? If such a sentence as ''Our object is to further cement trade relations" gives you pause, hark to Mr. Thurber: "My own way out of all this confusion would be simply to say 'Our object is to let trade relations ride,' that is, give them up, let them go." Should you say, "I feel bad" or ''I feel badly"? Says Thurber: "As a general thing, if the illness or pain really exists, and is acute, it is better to use the shorter word 'bad,' because it is more easily said and will bring assistance quicker."
Somebody was bound to start fun-poking at the late greatly ballyhooed Byrd Antarctic Expedition. Vaudevillian Fred Allen has already made Manhattan audiences laugh about it in Three's a Crowd, but Bird Life at the Pole is the first full-length parody. The story is supposed to have been told to Mr. Gibbs in a low hurried voice by Commander Christopher Robin, who was sent to the Antarctic as a news stunt by Publisher Herbst. When the expedition's ship, the Lizzie Borden, got to the Panama Canal, she was towed through by a Mr. Burton, swimming all the way with frequent rests (a dig at Playboy Richard Halliburton). The expedition had to take along so much impedimenta (such as grand pianos) because of testimonials to manufacturers that no room was left for navigating instruments. So when their airplane landed at the Pole they found it was the wrong one. They decided to say nothing about it, got their stereotyped Manhattan welcome just the same.
Funpokers James Thurber, Wolcott Gibbs, both young, both Manhattanites, both write for the Manhattan smartchart New Yorker.
*New books are news. Unless otherwise designated, all books reviewed in TIME were published within the fortnight. TIME readers may obtain any book of any U. S. publisher by sending check or money-order to cover regular retail price ($5 if price is unknown, change to be remitted) to Ben Boswell of TIME, 205 East 42nd St., New York City.
*Published Feb. 14.