The Marvelous Toy

An imagination teaser that has beguiled families since it was introduced in 1961, folksinger Paxton's (Going to the Zoo) eponymous song makes an uneasy transition to the picture-book medium. The appeal of the lyrics lies largely in their inherent mystery--""It went ZIP when it moved/ And BOP when it stopped/ And WHIRR when it stood still./ I never knew just what it was/ And I guess I never will."" Committing the song to print, therefore, and more specifically, to illustration, is somewhat akin to pinning down a butterfly in a display case, even if the image provided by the illustrator is of an unidentifiable thingamajig. Though the song lends itself to a read-aloud very nicely, and though Sayles's soft, warmly lit pastel illustrations certainly hint at the mystery (the toy scooting under a chair in one scene, only its tail visible, for instance), this visualized version takes a lot of the fun out of it. Musical notation is included on the endpapers. Ages 5-up. (Sept.)