OLD DAME COUNTERPANE

A well-turned take on Genesis in which Old Dame Counterpane picks a thread, sews a scene, picks another thread, and sews on until all is created for that day. Then she starts all over again. But it's not all work: There is time for tea and for counting along with the days. The book is a poetic entertainment shot through with a lesson in numbers. Mme. Counterpane sews a pane at a time, and in the end a living quilt is thrown over the sleeping children. Yolen's (Beneath the Ghost Moon, p. 1142, etc.; Good Griselle, see above) words sparkle, as they so often do; the problem here is with the artwork. With an Ed Young or a John Schoenherr in her corner, Yolen's poems snap and pop. With Councell there has been a bad mismatch. The quick verse needs something with an edge and a sense of time. Councell's dreamy, fluffy illustrations, smart as they might have been in another context, soften the story to the point of flaccidity. Yolen is always worth reading aloud, and given a spirited enough performance, kids will lose themselves in the verse. (Fiction/Picture book. 3-7)