ANIMAL STACKERS

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)