Look! Look! Look!

In this book, Hoban offers three chances to see ordinary objects in an unusual setting. First, a cutout in a blacked-out page frames a detail on the next page. What is that wrinkled, hairy gray thing? Turn the page and see the back end of an elephant; turn one more page and there it is in its entirety, nosing through some grass. An odd dingy square is really a lamb and a geometrical-object is the neck and frets of a guitar. Wordlessly, Hoban entertains as she provides her apparently random choice and order of the objects. Unlike many of her other books ( 26 Letters and 99 Cents , most recently), this one doesn't allow for many re-readings. Once children know what they are looking at, the book becomes a catalogue of familiar items, with Hoban's characteristically enticing photos, offered in the hope that readers will garner an appreciation of all textures and patterns. Ages 3-up. (August)