THE BOOKWORM'S FEAST

PLB 0-8037-1693-1 Lewis (Doodle Dandies, p. 896, etc.) has created an almanac of words at play, using tongue-twisters, puns, alliteration, and many forms and fancies of rhyme scheme in an unabashed celebration of language. The book is cunningly divided into sections—“Appetizers,” “Sherbets,” “Entrees,” “Sumptuous Side Dishes,” and “Delectable Desserts”—peppered by a very few poems from other writers. Among the terrific, lightning-flash images: “Milo Armadillo/heavy metal fellow”; Paulie McCoy, “A peanut buttery bit of a boy”; and a little toe-counting rhyme that starts off “Idaho pota-toe, Italian toma-toe.” In “Home, Sweet Home” readers bounce along to “I met my wife in Houdy, Miss./Or was it Odear, Me.? We bought a house in Fiven, Tenn./And lived so happily.” In perfect harmony are O’Brien’s marvelously textured lines, dots, stipples, and colors; his bookworms serve books-on-a-plate as a frontispiece to each section, and the characters have the bright energy of the verses. (Picture book/poetry. 3-9)