A NICKEL BUYS A RHYME
by Alan Benjamin & illustrated by Karen Lee Schmidt
"Rhyme Time": "Grouches grumble./Gymnasts tumble./Cookies crumble./Bees bumble./...Do you have any/ rhymes for umble?" Contagiously rhythmic and deliciously funny, these 30 poems are precisely tuned to the concerns of preschoolers and their primary sibs, who'll also enjoy reading them aloud. In Schmidt's lively, good-natured illustrations, the appealing characters may be human or animal; in the family where "Mama's in the kitchen/bakin' pies" while "Sister's with her boyfriend/sighin' sighs [and] Brother's on the corner tellin' lies," they're alligators. Food is frequently a subject, as are friends; faults or conflicts are defused in amusing descriptions ("There's just one thing/I will not share..."), and the collection winds up appropriately with the pleasures of reading, bedtime, and sweet dreams of flight— and the future. An inviting book to share. (Poetry/Picture book. 3-8)