Leedy (The Furry News) and Street offer a hearty roundup of animal-related idioms, similes, metaphors and proverbs, organized by habitat. The opening spread for "Around the House" depicts a house divided in fourths, with one canine upstairs waking another and the adage "Let sleeping dogs lie," plus its common interpretation, "Leave old problems alone." Downstairs in the kitchen, meanwhile, a beige pup tears at a "doggie bag/ container of leftover food" while a Doberman begs across the table. Many of these expressions lend themselves to comic visuals, which Leedy ably provides. For the "On the Farm" section, a scowling fowl "as mad as a wet hen" bellows at a chick: "I don't want to hear another peep out of you!"; and a dazed-looking "sitting duck" with a bull's-eye on its chest remains sedentary as a web-footed peer squirts it with water. "In the Wild" arranges sayings around animals cavorting about the woods and savanna; airborne birds and insects spew remarks in "On the Wing" ("I was drawn like a moth to a flame./ I was fascinated"). Though many of these expressions will be familiar to youngsters, other lesser-known phrases will enliven their vocabularies. Curious kids may wish that the origins of at least some of them were explained, but whether or not they think this volume is the bee's knees, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed readers should have a whale of a time perusing these diverting, creatively cluttered pages. Ages 6-10. (Mar.)
