Runny Babbit Returns

Turns out there were more “completed but unassembled” spoonerism poems and accompanying b&w line drawings in the Silverstein vault. Hence, this follow-up to 2005’s posthumous “billy sook,” Runny Babbit. Through 41 short verses, readers follow the eponymous rabbit—whose floppy ears are complemented by a perpetual look of surprise—back into the woods for tongue-twisting adventures and encounters. Some poems feel like a silly exaggeration of kid life: Runny Babbit loves “nuttered boodles” so much that he marries them (“You may biss the kride” says the officiant). Others speak to a growing sense of agency, as when he puts a caged “lighty mion” in his place (“ ‘And what are you, you shrittle limp?’/ And Runny answered, ‘Free.’ ”). There’s even a pretty good flatulence spoonerism, courtesy of a “dire-breathin’ fragon” (“If I’m inpited to your varty,/ Then I’ll fart your stire for you”). A little of this may go a long way with adult readers, but it’s the kind of comedy that can will have kids riding the giggle express—with stops for nuttered boodles, of course. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)