SHADOWVILLE

Shadows are the actors here, looming over the small figures who cast them, then separating themselves for an independent dusk- to-dawn festival in Shadowville. ``Shadows wearing / Shadow shorts / Spend the / Night at / Shadow sports.'' Of course, sunrise brings them back to their originators, but not before readers have been wowed by all the visual acrobatics. The contractions `` `Most'' and `` `Cause,'' used to make the verse scan, are jarring notes, but most children won't care; they also may not mind this book's unacknowledged debt to Mitsumasa Anno's In Shadowland (1988). No matter. Angular silhouettes race headlong across the page; the handsome type (called Shadowville) that complements these bold, playful forms is often set on a variety of geometric shapes in teal, pale olive, and brick red. The book is artfully designed and printed on cream flecked paper in a notable example of bookmaking unity—spontaneous and high-spirited, not studied. An auspicious debut. (Picture book. 3-8)