It's Raining Pigs & Noodles

Following A Pizza the Size of the Sun, the reigning czars of silliness are back on the warpath, wreaking poetic havoc with yet another deliciously sly volume. The titles alone are a treat: ""Never Poke Your Uncle With a Fork""; ""I'm Ironing My Rhinoceros""; ""Waffles Give Me Sniffles."" Prelutsky trips the light verse fantastic across territory that's familiar yet fresh. He gleefully descends to the depths of gross-out humor (""Worm puree, oh hooray!/ You're the dish that makes my day""), engages in nimble wordplay (""There's no present like the time,"" he notes in ""I Gave My Friend a Cuckoo Clock"") and once again proves himself king of the final one-two punch (a knight confesses to ineffectuality in an ode closing with this couplet: ""My name is famed through all the land/ I'm called Sir Lunchalot""). The sassy selection of nonsense rhymes and puckish poems will further endear Prelutsky to his many fans. Meanwhile, partner-in-crime Stevenson peppers the pages with his inimitably impish sketches, from pigs in kilts on stilts to fleas on a circus trapeze. Hats off to these two glorious goofballs! Ages 5-up. (Sept.)