Wish You Were Here (and I Wasn't): A Book of Poems and Pictures for Globe Trotters

The sublimely silly McNaughton returns with a collection of poems that poke fun at the world of travel. One of the best is ""First Draft of the Most Famous Australian Song Ever,"" whose chorus begins, ""Waltzing the builder,/ Waltzing St. Kilda,/ Who'll come a-waltzing with Hilda and me?"" Another standout is ""The Nomad Rush"" which begins: ""If in the desert you should be/ And men on camels you should see/ Going slowly, that would be/ The famous Nomad Rush."" Then there's Frankenstein reporting on his world tour: ""I left my heart in San Francisco,/ My torso in Nepal,/ My arms in Valparaiso/ And my legs in Montreal."" McNaughton's poems are redolent with puns, nonsense words, wisecracks and child-pleasing ickyness (""The food's okay, if you like fish--And things that crawl across your dish""). And no one can fault him for ambitiousness--many of the poems are of a substantial length. But a few of the longer ones that start out with a bang end with a whimper; he's best with the quick, limericky jokes like ""Panic on the Titanic,"" in which the narrator is riding a ""ship of the desert"" (a camel) named Titanic and it sinks into the sand. Goofy drawings, many of them depicting the hapless author himself, are sprinkled liberally throughout the pages. Ages 7-12. (Mar.)