I Have a News: Rhymes from the Caribbean

Selected from Jekyll's 1907 Jamaican Song and Story, the lively verses in this British import are often written in dialect, and they are invariably surrounded by vibrant, fanciful paintings. First-time illustrator Mair offers a riot of energetic and spirited compositions with tumbling perspectives and skewed designs. But welcome as this contribution to authentic multicultural literature may be, the subject matter is occasionally offensive. In ``Rise a Roof,'' for example, a man laments that ``I an' my wife cannot agree,/ Rise a roof in the morning/ She spread me bed on the dirty floor,/ Rise a roof in the morning/ For Devil made the woman an' God made man,/ Rise a roof in the morning.'' Some may also object to the artwork: while filled with Jamaican motifs, it echoes some of the racial stereotypes found in early American folk art. A concluding ``Note on the Rhymes'' gives background material about the importance of Jekyll's work; musical notations, also at the end of the book, might have been better placed nearer the text to amplify the syncopated rhythms of the rhymes. Ages 5-up. (Sept.)