A HOUSE IS A HOUSE FOR ME

A hill is a house for an ant, an ant./ A hive is a house for a bee./ A hole is a house for a mole or a mouse/ And a house is a house for me."" From animal houses Hoberman moves on to people's (igloo, tepee, etc.), returning frequently to that same fourth line while Fraser, for variety, pictures the ""house for me"" as a tree house, a packing carton, a snowpile, and so on. And when it seems that Hoherman has gone too long with houses for things ("". . . Barrels are houses for pickles/ And bottles are houses for jam. . .""), she disarms with agreement and a twist: ""Perhaps I have started farfetching/ Perhaps I am stretching things some./ A mirror's a house for reflections/ A throat is a house for a hum. . . ."" But that's not the end, and at last she does go on too long in the same jogtrot rhythm and listmaking vein. Small children, however, tolerate that sort of repetition, and this could work were the rhyme not overwhelmed by the packaging. Fraser's jarringly clear-cut and conspicuous pictures provide much to look at--but far too much, and in too many styles, to allow even the visual impressions to cohere. And Hoberman's modest ideas and grace notes are lost in the blare.