cover image Animals from Mother Goose: A Question Book

Animals from Mother Goose: A Question Book

Lee Bennett Hopkins. Harcourt Children's Books, $6.95 (28pp) ISBN 978-0-15-200406-4

It sounds like a winning idea: a pair of lift-the-flap books that on one page pose questions based on Mother Goose rhymes, and on the opposite page reveal the correct verse. Unfortunately, it never quite gets off the ground, largely due to the illustrations. Although colorful, they seem flat, and the animals are anthropomorphic in a strange sort of way. On the plus side, children may enjoy identifying the familiar characters who inhabit the pages and challenging themselves to come up with the correct answer to such questions as ``What did the incey wincey spider do?'' Ages 2-5. (Sept.)