cover image Tickle-Toe Rhymes

Tickle-Toe Rhymes

Joan Knight. Orchard Books (NY), $13.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-531-05773-5

Variations of the familiar ``One little piggy went to market'' form a grand collection of 13 counting rhymes. Musical owls, bedtime lambs and snowy pandas live in cozy houses where they cavort and frolic. For example, when five groups of hippos indulge in a gargantuan feast, ``One little hippo brought a blanket. / Two little hippos brought ham,'' and eventually, ``Five little hippos said lunch was over. / And they all hopped back in the pram.'' Wallner's amusing watercolor-and-ink drawings portray a delightfully eccentric crop of creatures. Parents and children alike will enjoy the droll humor, from a panda that reads Poe to five opera buff owls who ``Don't give a hoot.'' Ages 2-7. (Mar.)