cover image Up, Up and Away: 5

Up, Up and Away: 5

Ruth Heller. Grosset & Dunlap, $18.99 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-448-40249-9

In this latest addition to Heller's expanding collection of parts-of-speech books, the author/artist employs her characteristically vibrant, larger-than-life paintings to examine the many aspects of adverbs. Readers are told--and captivatingly shown--that ``ADVERBS work terrifically when answering specifically . . . `How?' `How often?' `When?' and `Where?' '' A glorious blue-and-white Victorian house, for example, drips gingerbread trim across one spread: it was painted ``RECENTLY.'' The question, ``WHY do pandas eat bamboo?'' is posed against a comparatively spare spread of three beguiling creatures devouring green leaves. If this book is a bit more confusing than the earlier volumes, it is chiefly because of the inherent diversity of the topic--young grammarians may well be puzzled that the words in a bride's vow of ``YES, INDEED, FOREVER'' are equated with the ``how'' of ``HOW do you do?'' Nevertheless, Heller once again offers an informative English lesson that is great fun to read and rife with theatrics. Ages 6-up. (Nov.)