Dilly Dilly Piccalilli

In this jaunty collection of poems from celebrated poet and anthologist Livingston, old favorites like Robert Louis Stevenson's ``The Swing'' and Edward Lear's ``The Owl and the Pussy-Cat'' sit side by side with works by N. M. Bodecker, David McCord, Karla Kuskin, William Butler Yeats and Theodore Roethke. The arrangement of poems is intended ``to replicate the manner in which the minds of children operate, connecting seemingly disparate words and ideas.'' For example, poems about moons are linked with poems about food through Vachel Lindsay's familiar ``The Moon's the North Wind's Cooky,'' but often the unstated connections are so disjointed they would confuse even the most alert reader. Perhaps this is a book best sampled in small, cherished portions rather than consumed as a whole. Among the 80 pages are 15 pictures by Christelow, which seem too few to contribute to the work or make it more accessible to the young audience for whom the collection was compiled. Ages 6-11. (Apr.)