A STORMY RIDE ON NOAH’S ARK

When the animals first start taking the measure of their circumstances on Noah’s ark, in Hooper’s (Where Do You Sleep, Little One?, p. 940) vision the food chain is a hot topic of discussion. “ ‘But who can sleep,’ the goat replied, / ‘With fox and wolf to sleep beside?’ ” Hooper’s verse is wound tight as a clock spring in these early pages, and Munsinger’s (Score One for the Sloths, p. 803, etc.) illustrations find the predators’ eyes glinting with malice. “ ‘I see in darkness,’ said the cat. / ‘Like you, I spy both wren and rat.’ ” But as the stars wink out and the wind picks up fury, it isn’t only the restless prey that the ark pitched through the storm: “The lion ceased his mighty roar / And trembled on that tilting floor. / The fearsome leopard shook with dread / Upon that rolling, rocking bed.” Then the wren offers to sing her song to soothe their troubled hearts. A mouse tells a story, knowing that it makes the night less dark. The verse is now jauntier even as upper lips stiffen. “The spider said, ‘Though I am small, / Perhaps the lowliest of all’ ” and it proceeds to spin a web of sleep. They awaken as comrades in a peaceable kingdom, stepping to a joyous circle dance, with their great project ahead and more important things on their minds than the next mouthful. (Picture book. 4-8)