ABSOLUTELY WILD

“A shaggy species is the yak / With hairy front and hairy back. / It isn’t very hard to spot him / With hairy top and hairy bottom.” What began as a self-published 75th-birthday gift from its illustrator daughter to her poem-penning father now stands as a lighthearted legacy from the author, who passed away in January 2008. End-paper Laugh-In walls of wacky wildlife greet readers of these amusing rhymes on a very eclectic selection of beings. The ptarmigan, the shrew and the platypus are some of the featured animals in 16 nonsense verses accompanied by striking, hand-colored linoleum prints. Cunningham’s black-inked designs are painted with cream, rusted reds and browns, refreshing greens and yellows and touches of lavendered blue. This palette serves to elevate the animals above comic-book-cutsie status; some creatures are framed with graphic black-and-red borders, some gambol unfettered on the page. Edward Lear enthusiasts will especially enjoy this entertaining compilation of couplets and quatrains. (Picture book/poetry. 7-12)