Belle essays a crossover from her adult novels with 26 haiku-like verses in which the first letter of each line spells out an animal's name: "Can't wait to be / Alone in the house. / The sofa looks comfortable." McPhail fleshes out the terse texts with rumpled scenes of large-headed, introspective-looking adults and children, often in antique costume, interacting with each member of the alphabetical menagerie. Despite a certain amount of romping, plus a Chinatown dragon's "accidentally passing / Gas as flames shoot / Out of her / Nostrils," the tone is generally tongue in cheek, making this an urbane counterpart for the corduroys and velvet dress set, to Steven Schnur's collections of seasonal acrostics. (Picture book/poetry. 7-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In these twenty-six fresh, original acrostic poems about animals, one for each letter of the alphabet, a real voice is achieved, despite the enforced brevity of the poems (""Can't wait to be / Alone in the house. / The sofa looks comfortable"" [Cat]). McPhail's illustrations--which almost always include children as well as the featured animal--have equal verve and individuality. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

In this alphabet book, the letters in the names of animals and other critters stack up to be clever acrostics. For example, "Ant" runs vertically from the top of the page, while the following text unfolds horizontally: "Aunt Alice and Mums warned me/ Not/ To make crumbs." The accompanying picture depicts an oversize ant approaching the cake crumbs spilled by a child. Familiar animals such as sheep and zebra share spreads with mythical creatures like dragons and unicorns (for X, the Chinese name for the giant panda, xiongmao, appears). Old-fashioned clothing, fairytale images and timeless childhood activities such as riding a carousel and playing tic-tac-toe abound in McPhail's (Mud Is Cake) nostalgic watercolors, even as contemporary references and a variety of cultural settings in both pictures and poems (the Empire State Building, a Rolls Royce) give the book a modern sensibility. Belle (Going Down, for adults) consistently captures a singular personality and a gentle humor for each entry. With "elephant," for instance, a child implicitly seeks permission to have the pachyderm as pet: "Extremely/ Large is an understatement/ Empties the/ Peanut butter jar./ Have to/ Ask very/ Nicely/ To keep him." McPhail makes the most of the illogical situation; he shows a child perched on an elephant's head as his aghast father reads a newspaper with the headline, "Elephant Escapes." His full-bleed spread for "ostrich," in which the bird's head peers down inside a sandcastle, is especially inspired. This attractive volume may well prompt budding wordlovers to create a pile of their own poems. Ages 5-9. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Gr. 1-3. Though Belle hails from the world of grown-up literature, her first children's book is impressively conscious of its audience, integrating a universally appealing topic, an abecedarian structure, and an elegant, easy-to-grasp poetry form that most children will already know. Following a common acrostic pattern, the letters in each featured word (all names of animals, from Ant to Zebra), arranged vertically (stacked ), serve as the beginning of each line of the poem. The resulting collection of 26 poems is somewhat uneven. Although the weakest entries rely on McPhail's illustrations to bring meanings to light, the strongest have an internal logic and feisty humor that his droll watercolors simply extend. For instance, the artwork illustrating Elephant, which concludes with the lines Have to / Ask very / Nicely / To keep him, shows a stunned parent holding a newspaper bearing the headline Elephant Escapes, as a child leads a pachyderm into the living room. The poems' frequent enjambment should be particularly welcomed by young poets, for whom classroom assignments requiring tidy columns of complete sentences may have dulled the acrostic's sheen. --Jennifer Mattson Copyright 2005 Booklist

K-Gr 4-An acrostic, alphabet, and poetry book all rolled into one. From Ant to Zebra, animals are presented in colorful single- and double-page entries. The letters of the creatures' names are capitalized and arranged vertically on the pages, and each one begins a line of poetry. The verses are delightful, funny, and sweet, and feature children interacting with a cast of real and imaginary creatures in a series of whimsical situations. For example, a youngster looks into the face of dragon ("Down in Chinatown/Roaring at all who pass,/And accidentally passing/Gas as flames shoot/Out of her/Nostrils") and a boy chauffeurs a jaguar in a fancy car ("Just/A big cat/Growling,/Until you/Agree to give him a ride in your/Rolls-Royce"). Although the poems often include challenging vocabulary, McPhail's watercolor illustrations clarify and enhance the verses and bring the fun-loving animals to life. The pictures are filled with vibrant colors and amusing details and have an old-fashioned quality that works well with the tone of the text. A great choice, particularly in classroom collections in which poetry is part of the curriculum.-Christine E. Carr, Lester C. Noecker Elementary School, Roseland, NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.