Zoodles

As he did in Pets in Trumpets and There's an Ant in Anthony , Most here indulges in creative wordplay by combining names of animals to devise some unconventional hybrids. ``What do you call an elephant that hardly ever gets thirsty?,'' he asks. A turn of the page reveals the answer, as well as an illustration featuring the two animals whose names are joined together: ``A camelephant!'' Some of the verbal pairings are more successful and clever than others. Youngsters may find the following a somewhat cumbersome mouthful: ``What do you call a 6,000 pound muskrat? A hippopotamuskrat!'' Yet most entries roll off the tongue effortlessly--``What do you call a goat that stands on one leg? A flamingoat!'' Although Most doesn't present his offbeat animal fusions visually (that is, draw a creature that is part goat and part flamingo), he portrays the various species interacting friskily, apparently enjoying the joke. (The kangaroo on the book's jacket, in fact, is reading Zoodles .) Ages 3-8. (Oct.)