ANNIE, BRIDGET AND CHARLIE

In case you didn't guess, Annie, Bridget and Charlie begin the alphabet (followed by ""dear little Dinah,"" ""erring young Edward,"" and ""foolish Miss Florence"") but this is only incidentally an alphabet book; mostly madly mirthfully it's a sequence of Victorian limericks splendidly illustrated. ""Mournful Miss Molly, who likes to be thought melancholy"" holds a giant calla lily in one dainty hand, a croquet mallet in the other; her eyes are demurely downcast, her toe is prettily pointed. ""Valiant young Vivian, who...is quite an amphibian"" sits astride a log in a lily pond, not at all nonplussed by the frog squatting stolidly on his head. The serio-comic rhymes are seldom obscure and the serio-comic illustrations are contemporaneous with them in spirit and detail, contemporaneous with us in design. Good fun to share, and the large, crisp drawings will carry to the back of the classroom.