There was a sign on Rosie's door that said, "If you want to know a secret, knock three times." Kathy, Rosie's good friend, knocked three times and learned the secret-that Rosie was no longer Rosie, but Alinda, the lovely lady singer.

Adventures with Alinda were fun for Kathy and Sal and Pudgy and Dolly. Even Lenny, who occasionally didn't believe in Alinda, was delighted by the Fourth of July celebration that Alinda, with the help of the Magic Man, held. At the end of the celebration, Alinda was gone forever, and Rosie had returned, but she soon found something else nice to be.

Maurice Sendak, the well-known artist and author-illustrator of Kenny's Window and Very Far Away, has written a story of real children, playing as only children know how. Young readers will wish that Alinda lived next door to them.