Taking Turns: Poetry to Share

This attractive anthology is arranged with corresponding pages of thematically linked verses, the left-hand one intended for the adult to read and the right-hand one for the child. The 26 thoughtfully selected poems are by well-known children's literature figures--Kate Greenaway, Christina Rossetti, Arnold Lobel--and address such traditional subjects as rain, wind, horses, and snow. The mostly quiet offerings complement each other musically; a few, however--``Growing Smiles,'' for example--seem facile. One of the nicest surprises is May Swenson's ``Living Tenderly,'' a riddle about the turtle's body that ends with the singular couplet, ``My flesh lives tenderly / inside its bone.'' Stock contributes some of her best work--delicate two-color pastels on the left-hand pages are stylishly paired with exuberant portraits on the facing side--a vibrant jungle hut, a cheery skater, a nuzzling cat and dog. The becoming design of the right-hand pages, in particular, allows for the verses' optimum placement within the illustrations. Ages 6-9. (Mar.)