Children's

THE BANTAM OF THE OPERA, written and illustrated by Mary Jane Auch.: Genre: Children's; Availability: unknown; Rating: NA; Review: NA

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA POP-UP BOOK, by Maria Bjornson.: Genre: Children's; Availability: OP, ER; Rating:; Review: Gorgeous, but clearly made for adults. (The cover image of the proscenium should tell you that!) Has a clever use of music and lights; a must for the child inside any Phantom fan!

BABAR THE ELEPHANT MEETS THE PHANTOM: Genre: Children's; said to be not very Phantomy; Availability: unknown; Rating: NA; Review: NA

THE MALL, by Richie Tankersley Cusick.: Genre: Children's; Availability: IP, in bookstores now. 1992 Archway paperbacks.; Rating:; Review: A cheesey rewrite of the POTO myth, The Mall is more funny than frightening. Like, Trish is having such a hard time at her job, and there's this, like, really creepy guy who keeps, umm, watching her, okay? And then there's, omigod, the gorgeous Storm whom she secretly loves, and the nice but kinda weird guy, like, Wyatt, too, who is watching her, too. Even her best friend Nita thinks Trish is, like, going off the deep end-but in reality, the creepy Ethan is after her!

PHANTOMS DON'T DRIVE SPORTS CARS, by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones: Genre: Children's, (a play); Availability: IP, one of the Bailey School Kids series; Rating: NA; Review: NA

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, adaptation of the Leroux novel, illustrated by Greg Hildebrandt: Genre: Children's; Availability: IP, but published by the Unicorn Publishing House, with an ISBN of 0-88101-284-X. Also found under the Barnes and Noble publishing label.; Rating:; Review: The gorgeous illustrations of the full Hildebrant-envisaged Leroux are excerpted here, along with an abridged text of POTO. The abridgment is well done, retaining the essential details and remaining faithful to Leroux's characterizations. For those of you who can't find the full Leroux as done by Hildebrandt, this version is a good replacement, offering you a taste of his POTO world.

PHANTOM OF THE OPRY, by Tim Kelly: Genre: Children's, (a play); Availability: unknown, but published by the Pioneer Drama Service, P.O. Box 22555, Denver, Colorado 80222 (Note: address seems not to be working); Rating: NA; Review: NA

SHERLOCK MEETS THE PHANTOM, by Tim Kelly: Genre: Children's, (a play); Availability: unknown, but published by the Pioneer Drama Service, P.O. Box 22555, Denver, Colorado 80222 (Note: address seems not to be working); Rating: NA; Review: NA

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, retelling of the tale from Erik's point of view, by Kate McMullan, illustrated: Genre: Children's; Availability: unknown, but it's a Bullseye Book published by Random House, Inc. ISBN: 0-394-83847-5; Rating:; Review: SOB! McMullan's book lifts very carefully from Leroux, to construct a narrative of Erik's life. She doesn't invent many new details, but who doesn't get misty-eyed at the idea of experiencing Erik's childhood through a child narrator's voice? The illustrations are well done black-and-whites, endearingly sketched.

ONCE UPON A FOREST, a Golden Coloring Book: Genre: Children's; Availability: unknown; Special Notes: features MC's badger; Rating: NA; Review: NA

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, in the Random House Step-Up Classic Chillers series.: Genre: Children's; Availability: OP, but the Avon Boutique in Toronto has it. (905) 388-2981.; Rating: NA; Review: NA

PHANTOM OF THE OPERETTA, author unknown: Genre: Children's, I'm told; Availability: Unknown; Rating: NA; Review: NA

PHANTOM OF THE SOAP OPERA, by Craig Sodara: Genre: Children's, I'm told, but I haven't seen it to confirm that yet; Availability: Unknown, but contact Eldridge Publishing Company, P.O. Box 1595, Venice, FL 34284, for information.; Rating: NA; Review: NA

THE DARK CHRONICES: THE DANCE, THE GALLERY, and THE CALLING, by Barbara Steiner.: Genre: Children's, Young Adult Horror; Availability: IP; Rating: NA; Review: NA

PHANTOM OF THE AUDITORIUM, by R.L. Stine.: Genre: Children's; Availability: IP; Special Notes: a poster of the cover is sold.; Rating:; Review: The story of this book isn't at all faithful to the Phantom tale, despite glancing references to the myth. Cute, but not particularly spell-binding.

PHANTOM OF THE MUPPET THEATER, by Ellen Weiss, illustrated by Manar Chauhan.: Genre: Children's; Availability: OP. Published by Smithmark Publishers, 112 Madison Ave., NY NY 10016...They are available for "bulk purchase," call 212 532-6600. (Note: address does not seem to be responding.) ISBN 0-8317-6151-2; Rating: NA; Review: NA

WHEN 'SILENTS' WAS GOLDEN: Genre: Children's, a play; Availability: Unknown; Special Notes: This is a play about the silent movie classics; one of the characters is Lon Chaney as the Phantom; Rating:NA; Review: NA

THE PHANTOM CAT OF THE OPERA, by David Wood: Genre: Children's; Availability: IP; Rating:NA; Review: NA