RIDDLE ROAD

Offering brain-teasers for the younger set, Spires and Blegvad follow up With One White Wing (1995) with 26 charming riddles. Whether reading or listening, children will find clues’some large and clear, some hidden—in the lively illustrations as well as in the text; the solution always appears at the bottom of the page, upside down. The scope—from obvious to difficult—will satisfy a wide range of children, although a few riddles presume background knowledge that very young children may not have. Spires repeats words and phrases often, allowing readers the chance to become familiar with new words and spelling patterns. The game-like quality of the book demands attention to meaning, however, and helps children have fun actively reading not only words but picture as they guess solutions to the riddles. An artful and accessible addition to the beginning reader domain. (Poetry. 5-9)