Please Don't Squeeze Your Boa, Noah

Singer and Oubrerie (It's Hard to Read a Map with a Beagle on Your Lap) pour a litter of animal rhymes and pictures-some catchy, some otherwise-into this volume. The entries commence with the eponymous poem (``Be fonder of your anaconda/ That's what you must do/ Please don't squeeze your boa, Noah/ Or he just might squeeze you''), then continue with similarly lightweight odes to other creatures; the rhymes here are for the sake of rhyming, rather than to convey meaningful information. Some lack polish (``Tricky treat/ my parakeet/ mimics noises from the street''). Oubrerie's fine-line drawings, dominated by drab browns and greens, are equally silly but often more fun, e.g., a spider named Mary sports blond curls and ruby slippers. Ages 6-9. (Mar.)