cover image Who Is Tapping at My Window?

Who Is Tapping at My Window?

A. G. Deming, Alhambra G. Deming. Dutton Books, $10.95 (24pp) ISBN 978-0-525-44383-4

When a little girl asks who is tapping at her window, the farm animalsfrom the cat to the rat, the fox to the oxall deny doing so. Finally, however, the culprit owns up. The observant reader, once aware of the perpetrator, will realize that the culprit is visible in almost every illustration, and will wonder why the answer wasn't obvious sooner. Found in an old anthology of children's verse, Deming's poem includes some rarer animalsa loon and a cony, for example. But what will enchant children are the repetitions of ""It's not I'' by each of the animals. Wellington's illustrations have a bold, naive style; her pictures seem to be those of a seasoned illustrator rather than a first-time artist. Ages 2-5. (March)