IT'S A DEAL

Children the world around love to trade. And the interest starts at an early age as evidenced by the popular tiny book by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, It A Good Trade? (Harcourt, Brace-1956). This big book has the same sort of pattern, but- we feel- closer to the child's level, since it starts and ends with a double trade between a small boy and a small girl, respective owners of a blue dog and a black cat. In between, as dog and cat pass from hand to hand, a crazy succession of things are traded, - a lollipop, an anchor, an old boot, a cow, a brush and paints, a clock (with a few deals in between), an umbrella, a shirt, a crown, a steam shovel -- and back again to the cat and the dog. Sheer nonsense, but so absurd that the small fry will get lots of chuckles out of text and splashy pictures by the author. Adapted from the Swedish by Maria Cimino.