This zany adventure features the same intrepid grandmother who appeared in You Can't Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum (Dial, 1998), here taking a grandson and granddaughter to visit the National Gallery. The granddaughter leaves her red balloon outside with a kind entrepreneur who takes pictures of tourists. As grandmother and children explore the highlights of the famous institution, the balloon escapes from the hands of the photographer and is buffeted about Washington, DC, followed by an accumulating parade of people who resemble characters in a slapstick silent comedy. As the balloon blows past the sights of the capital, the scenes echo the works of art that the family sees in the gallery. Some of these connections are amusing and clever (a George Bellows painting of a prizefight parallels a picture of the floor of the U.S. Senate where fists are raised); others are more strained (Matisse's "Large Composition with Masks" has little in common with the Queen of the Cherry Blossom Parade except in palette). The illustrator effectively uses full color to highlight the dramatic focus in each energetic pen-and-ink sketch. Front and back matter include a map of Washington and lists of the reproductions and "Faces from History" that are found throughout the book. Though the idea is not as original the second time around, it is still lots of fun. Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Greenwich, CT Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.