Over in the Meadow: A Counting Rhyme

The sun shines over a bright, verdant meadow at the start of Voce's (illustrator of Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat ) energetic rendition of a familiar song. Each spread introduces both a number and an endearingly wide-eyed animal family, from ``an old mother turtle and her little turtle ONE'' to ``an old mother fox and her little foxes TEN.'' As the offspring obediently follow their mother's directions to either dig, quack, ``who-whoo,'' squeak, buzz, jump, hop, run, oink or play, Voce's watercolor-ink illustrations whimsically depict the respective actions with an animation that well suits each bouncy lyric. The numbers, action words and pictures of the animal siblings are repeated on the final pages, helping to reinforce the counting and vocabulary lessons. Ages 2-up. (Aug.)