Good Morning, City

In an urban counterpart to the cockcrow-in-the-barnyard theme, Moore (Deep River) and Low (Wake Up, Wilson Street) lyrically describe the early morning hours in a big city. Contrapuntal text evokes the calm and friendliness of the city streets as well as the changing light and escalating sound and bustle: at the beginning, ``the sky is silver gray/ like the inside of a pot''; later, ``down below, under the street, subway attendants cannot know/ that the sky is turning as blue as a teacup.'' Low's velvety paintings assume dramatic perspectives, bathing ordinary city life in wondrous light, from the electric haze of the subway tunnels to the brilliant sunshine whitening the steeple of a cathedral. Curious suburban and rural readers as well as confirmed city-dwellers will warm to this metropolitan reveille. Ages 5-8. (Sept.)