Fresh Paint: New Poems

The award-winning poet displays her versatility in this volume of 45 poems that invite children to redecorate the ordinary world with unusual images""fresh paint.'' New shoes are ``wooden boats/ so slippery/ I can't even stay/ afloat.'' The first snowfall ``is a pinhole/ in the pillow of the sky.'' A good place ``to Hide a Secret Message'' is ``in a raindrop on a window pane'' or ``in a raisin in rice pudding.'' Merriam is at her best when urging children to ``wake to the wonders/ this world shows to me.'' Frampton's black-and-white woodcuts contain the sturdy simplicity of a child's potato print as they march across each page. (10-up)