RIDICULOUS RHYMES FROM A TO Z
by John Walker & illustrated by David Catrow
The alphabet gets a good going-over, with each letter showcased in eight illustrated panels; the flurry of words set to rhyme are heavily weighted toward nonsense: ``Beginning with B/is a bookful of words/like bald-headed barbers/and blue barking birds.'' The emphasis in Walker's first book is on having grand old time: ``A meeting of mumbling men,/they meet each month of May./Their members murmur messages,/but who knows what they say.'' The nutty poems really fly when paired with Catrow's witty illustrations. Once the ABCs are mastered, the book will inspire vocabulary-building; it may be debatable just how often Xerxes, mukluks, and katydids will be deployed by toddlers, but there's no arguing that the book is sheer good fun. (Picture book. 4-8)