THE FISH WHISTLE <i> By Daniel Pinkwater (Addison-Wesley: $7.95) </i>

A collection of commentaries from National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” by the successful children’s author. Daniel Pinkwater writes about the trivia of daily life in a tone reminiscent of the comic memoirs of Jean Shepard, but he lacks his model’s eye for the resonant detail that makes an individual experience universal. Pinkwater finds himself enormously amusing, and he spends more time nudging the audience in the ribs, reminding them what a good time they’re supposed to be having, than he does showing them that good time. Except for the pieces about dogs, these essays are as homogenized and empty as the junk food the author delights in scarfing. If NPR is this desperate for material, the producers should consider testing the emergency-warning-system sirens more often.