Mighty Joe Mishbooker  By Sean Kelly Published: November 12,
1995  THE MIAMI GIANT By Arthur Yorinks. Illustrated by Maurice
Sendak. Unpaged. New York: Michael di Capua Books/ HarperCollins
Publishers. $15.95. (All ages)  GIUSEPPE GIAWEENI, an Italian
explorer dressed like Christopher Columbus, sets sail for China
but lands in Miami. There he discovers "a lost tribe of dancing
giants," the Mishbookers. He imports one of them, Joe, to
Europe, has him trained and costumed and puts him on display --
but the very sight of Joe Mishbooker terrifies everyone, so
Giuseppe brings him back.  This, so help me, is the (entire)
plot of Arthur Yorinks's story "The Miami Giant."  Having been
read this tale, any child will hop off your lap and ask if he or
she can watch television now, or -- you should be so lucky -- if
you'll read "Chicken Soup With Rice" again.  But an adult, this
adult anyway, will worry. And start one of those internal
dialogues:  These Mishbookers are, obviously, Jewish. Their name
must be an idiosyncra