What's in the Deep Blue Sea

As with their previous collaborations, What's in the Jungle? and What's in the Cave? , these two pop-up books are absolute delights. Preschoolers with an interest in nature will be immediately drawn in by the simple question on each spread (``What's stomping through the trees?'') and eagerly anticipate the answer (``A terrible Triceratops'') concealed under the flaps. Carter's bold paintings and clever collages combine with superior paper engineering to move the reader steadily to the final spreads, which feature a bright yellow, red and blue octopus and a pleasingly scary tyrannosaurus. These books are great fun and stand-outs in what seems an increasingly mediocre field. Ages 3-7. (Oct.)