Ten Oni Drummers

The oni in this combination bedtime story and counting book by the creators of Cool MelonsDTurn to Frogs! may keep readers awake more than it lulls them to sleep. ""In dreams I gaze upon the sand,/ beneath the moonlight in Japan,"" opens the narrative, as a boy standing on a beach watches the first of the 10 ogre-like title characters emerge from the sand. Their lackluster activities (they raise flags, stoke a fire, eat from a large cooking pot) aren't likely to engage readers; even the more raucous activities (such as riding a raft and beating their drums) appear stagnant in the pictures. The rhyme and rhythm of Gollub's singsong verse intermittently falter. Stone's sometimes garish watercolor and colored pencil pictures depict the vividly colored oni as a potentially scary lot. Ironically, a full-spread rendering of the 10 wide-eyed, fanged drummers staring out from the page accompanies the words, ""To me they're friendly, and what's more,/ they stand guard over slumber's shore./ When spooky dreams fill me with fright,/ they chase those dreams... into the night."" The final spread imparts the volume's most valuable asset: a display of the Japanese kanji characters representing the numbers 1-10 and a demonstration of how to write each one. Ages 2-6. (Nov.)