YUCKA DRUCKA DRONI

This subversive tongue-twister from the Radunskys involves three brothers, three sisters, three weddings, and three babies. The wordplay fairly pops, with merciful breaks in between the major twisters, to ``and Yucka-Drucka-Droni and Zippa-Drippa-Limpomponi? They waste no time, The baby's fine, It's Shuck-Schuckmut-Shuckmoni!'' This is a playful book, not just in the text and illustrations—superb, eccentric pieces, set on buzzing fields of saturated color, to which have been added odd elements of collage and cut-outs—for the pages offer up unexpected combinations of men and women, and sheer outlandishness in every nook and cranny: odd perspectives, crazy angles, arcane snippets of photography. The effect is lively, not jangling, with good humor to see readers through every noisy snarl. (Picture book. 3-6)