Who's Sick Today?

Using imaginative settings, the author has created a rhyming primer on animals who are sick. Page one shows a busy classroom scene with an empty desk. The teacher, a white cockatoo, asks, ""Who's sick today?'' The next page reveals a modified beaver den with beavers tucked under quilts while a pelican doctor tends their fevers. The walls are a mass of twigs and mud, and fish float outside the curtained window. Next we see a ``snake with an ache,'' then visit a clinic where a ``whale on a scale'' and a ``chimp with a limp'' are being treated. A trip to the hospital shows patients recovering from sore throats, aches and pains, with lots of visitors around to cheer things up. In every scene there is someone to care for the sick, whether it's the doctor, a concerned parent or a party of well-wishers, making this a cheerful, gently reassuring book. Ages 4-6. (March)