WINTER VISITORS

A treacly counting book in forced rhyme. A small girl and her cat go out to find woodland animals, returning home just in time to see ""Ten wild turkeys are gobbling through our door!/Nine feisty chickadees splutter from the floor,"" and so on. Last to come into the kitchen is a skunk, who sprays the cat, the child, and the wild animals, causing a hubbub, and providing the opportunity to reverse the countdown of animals with more limping rhymes. The marginal story makes clear its author has probably never been skunked, for the girl is serene only moments after the spray; the wild animals are greeting-card cuddly, poorly proportioned, and awkwardly posed.