SIT ON A POTATO PAN, OTIS!

The Prince of Palindromia offers a third collection, nearly all of which, he writes, “grew (very slowly) out of my brain.” Every palindrome appears as either the punchline or caption to a page-sized pen-and-ink cartoon that provides explanatory visual cues: “Red? No wonder,” thinks Ms. Claus, watching Santa paint a wall. With examples both humble (A clueless math student answers “One?” “No!” replies his teacher) and complex—“A man, a plan, a cat, a bar, a cap, a mall, a ball, a map, a car, a bat, a canal: Panama”—Agee hikes down a curious, always entertaining language byway with a book which, it can be said with perfect justice, readers will enjoy backwards and forwards. (Picture book. 6-10)