Good Books, Good Times!

The message runs through this arresting book with appropriately compelling force: pick up a book and read. Some poems are silly, none didactic, all fun. Myra Cohn Livingston, Karla Kuskin, Jack Prelutsky and X. J. Kennedy are among the 14 poets represented. One reader discovers pirates and trolls and pots of gold, another tries to keep dinosaurs from stumbling off the pages and a third--roller-skated--reader decides to ``linger alone / in a place of my own / Lost / in a book.'' Stevenson's frequently fantastical illustrations are pure joy. While remaining true to the poetry's images, he brings grace and his own sense of humor to them. This collection might best be summed up by the opening lines of David McCord's entry: ``Books fall open, / you fall in, / delighted where / you've never been.'' Ages 5-8. (Sept.)