Tickle Day: Poems from Father Goose

This compilation of Ghigna's (Good Cats/Bad Cats) uncomplicated rhymes, many of which were previously printed in such magazines as Jack and Jill, Children's Digest and Humpty Dumpty, is essentially superficial. The title poem, for example, heralds ``the little laugh/ That wakes up in your eyes./ .../ It's the tickle of the morning/ Rising inside you.'' Selections about the weather (``It's Snow Wonder!''), the seasons (``Happy Birthday, May!'') and animals (``Would You Like to Meet a Ewe?'') predominate, and their verses rarely delve beyond their perky titles. Moore's (Jane Yolen's Songs of Summer) liberally applied watercolors and colored pencils sometimes grow muddy, but the colors are, for the most part, rich and vibrant. While the compositions reflect the cheeriness of the text, they also incorporate vaguely Chagall-like touches (e.g., fairylike faces appear on clouds and trees) to offer mystical interpretations of nature, which young fantasists will appreciate-and which give this otherwise unremarkable volume its flashes of personality. Ages 4-7. (Sept.)