Here's a book that will make 9-12 year-olds wish they had lived in Hungary a hundred years ago. First published in the 1930s, "The Good Master" tells of two cousins who ride horses across the Hungarian plains, encountering shepherds and gypsies en route. It's all marvelously evocative of the folk customs and lifestyles of old Hungary. Kate Seredy continued the cousins' story in a sequel, "The Singing Tree" (HGR26).  (HGR25, $5.99)