ARMADILLOS SLEEP IN DUGOUTS

From the collaborators behind Pinky Is a Baby Mouse (p. 468) and following its format, a book about animal homes and habitats. Rhyming quatrains with a typical A-B-C-B metrical pattern each end in a first-person question, e.g., ``I'm an Arctic lemming. Where will my household be?'' The required page turn divulges another short verse that expounds on a particular dwelling. Fox's den and spider's web are interspersed with the less familiar squirrel's drey, badger's sett, or river otter's holt, introducing unusual vocabulary in easily understood context. Backyard, jungle, savannnah, forest, and ice floe provide a variety of safe locations; the text also visits rufous ovenbirds, pampas deer, garden bowerbirds, and African termites. Woodsy, naturalistic watercolor habitats harbor sets of creatures with similar environs. Several of the lines are awkward or out of meter, making this difficult to read aloud, and no new territory is charted; instead, it's a smattering of brief encounters and a mild overview of the range of animal homes. (Picture book. 4-7)