McManus ( The Grasshopper Trap ) has been making outdoorsmen laugh for some time now, but his new collection of writing passes a sterner test. Here he can amuse someone who's never even baited a hook. McManus's stories generally involve either the comic misadventures of life in the wild (``A Road Less Travelled By''; ``Gunkholing''; ``Water Spirits'') or first-person coming-of-age stories set in rural America (``The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw''; ``Scritch's Creek''). His comic voice, resonating with a surprising depth of wit, is expressed in a pleasant, quirky prose style--but shows a tendency to get cute. Characters cry ``Owww!'' and ``Arrrhhhh'' and ``Arp!'' incessantly and excessively, and the author indulges a fondness for italic type: ``I . . . gasp . . . forgot my billfold. It's . . . pant . . . in my tackle box. Get it for me . . . choke . . . will you?'' This talented writer doesn't need to poke readers in the ribs to let them in on the joke. Author tour. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

McManus, columnist for Outdoor Life and author of Rubber Legs and White Tail-Hairs (Holt, 1987), has come out with a new collection of countrified, down-home stories that are sure to amuse more than just lovers of the great outdoors. Granted, many of these stories are related in some way to McManus's areas of ``expertise,'' hunting, fishing, and camping, but there are a few that touch on psychology (``Boating Disorders,'' in which the writer helps people whose life has become dominated by their boat) and consumerism (``Garage-Sale Hype,'' in which the author relates how to get a really good bargain on fishing equipment). His narrative is peopled with such oddly named characters as Rancid Crabtree; Erful, Retch, and Verman Sweeney; Valvoleen Grooper; and others. Libraries that had a good following for McManus's earlier books will want this one, too.-- Carol Spielman Lezak, General Learning Corp., Northbrook, Ill. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.