Auntie's Knitting a Baby

With mischief, verve and twists of black humor, Simmie offers up some wickedly humorous poems teeming with eccentric characters. An uncle invents ``Pogo sticks for rabbits, / Spray-on underwear,'' a neighbor on Halloween ``sticks price tags on rabbits and kids / And looks kind of mean,'' and a brother is so afraid of germs that he ``flushes toilets with his toes.'' The poems may spark strong reactions. In one series, Mary McBickle chokes on a pickle and dies; her mother says, `` `Just as well . . . She might have been an invalid.' '' In another poem, a ``lucky'' kitchen witch wreaks evil havoc on a family ``and kills the newborn calf.'' The spare black-and-white illustrations are minimally effective, and whether readers are amused or appalled will depend in part on their sense of the macabre. Ages 8-10. (September)