EARLY MORNING IN THE BARN

From the rooster's "Cock a doodle doo" to the mother hen's "cluck cluck": three little chicks "cheep cheep" their way through the barnyard, greeting dog and geese and ducks and pigs ("owoo," "honk honk," "quack quack," "oink oink")—in sunny, poster-y pictures with lots of sideline activity for the watchful child. When the chicks are greeting the donkeys, for instance, the cat is creeping up on the mouse from under the horse—whose figure continues from the preceding page. That visual ploy, a subtle page-turning stratagem that youngsters may not initially be aware of, also brings us the mother hen's mysterious tail feathers—before we turn the page and find her clucking over the chicks, now busily pecking at their food. An interesting contrast with the recent easy-reader Little Chick's Breakfast (J-15 7)—simpler, but less babyish. Most important: an inventive scripting of animal sounds; an auspicious display of Tafuri's particular strengths as an illustrator; a book for toddlers to start with—and grow on.