WALKING THROUGH THE JUNGLE

Harter sets her young character trooping through various habitats, chanting as she goes: ""Walking through the jungle,/Walking through the jungle,/What do you see?/What do you see?"" Readers soon come to understand that each place harbors a creature that might be a threat: ""I think I see a lion,/Chasing after me,/Chasing after me."" All the animals--from blowfish to Dall sheep to Arctic foxes--are rendered in fantastical colors. Harter provides crisp tension between the book's peaceable kingdoms and a lurking nature, red of tooth and claw, which is beveled by the sweet disposition of the artwork and by the closing pages: Lion, wolf, polar bear, crocodile, and rattle snake follow the girl to her home and sit down for vegetarian snacks. A simple, enjoyable environmental romp.