Climb aboard for a spellbinding sojourn with Cincinnati Patty, Buntington Bunny, the balloons of Kalamazoo, and many new friends. From Seattle to New York, Saskatoon to Honolulu, an unforgettable cast of zany creatures will tickle readers' tongues and ignite their imaginations. Full color. It is hard to believe that Cincinnati Patty, Justin Austin, Pennington Poe, and the little pink pig in Arkansas have not been chanted and sung about by children for generations. But it is not hard to believe that they Will be chanted and sung about for generations to come Jack Prelutsky and Garth Williams have created a nursery world, peopled with unforgettable characters. Come and meet your new friends. They will be old friends soon Review: Two sparkling talents combine to produce a book that promises more than it delivers. "Grandma Bear from Delaware/rocked in a rickety rocking chair,/socks on her feet and a ribbon in her hair,/Grandma Bear from Delaware." Prelutsky's 28 short verses exhibit his usual wonderful ear for nonsense sounds and rhymes, but the imaginative silliness that informs his best work seldom shows itself, and the device of beginning and ending with the same line is overused. Several ("Bullfrogs," "I'm a yellow-bill duck") do

themselves to audience participation, and a few ("Early one morning," "Molly Day") probe more deeply into things and cross over into poetry. This is more than can be said for the illustrations, which, though they feature Williams' delicate line and some brilliant colors, seldom achieve more than a literal rendering of the accompanying text - and that often awkward. A handsomely designed, very disappointing collection. (Kirkus Reviews)