NONSENSE! HE YELLED

In this confusing book, 25 boys and one girl introduce themselves in alphabetical order. From "My name is Art/ And I am smart" to "My name is Zack/ It's hair I lack," the narrative doles out a measure of silliness, as when letter-D Dean grows a bean that flusters Gene, three letters later ("My name is Gene/ I'm feeling mean—/ And that's because/ of Dean's odd bean"). Eschbacher mimics the mannered meter and phrasing of Dr. Seuss, as in a stanza about the mechanic named Hank ("I use a tool I like to call/ 'Hank's Tank Crank Fancy Fix-It-All"), and the lone female ("Yes, I'm a girl,/ I'm glad to say./ So should I go?/ No! I will stay"). Yet the author never diverges from his rigid A-to-Z march, and his uninspired rhymes cannot compare to classic wordplay. Johnson (What! Cried Granny) combines prickly pen-and-ink drawings with flat, software-generated patches of color; his slick compositions favor hard edges and cold surfaces. Unfortunately, these inert poems and pictures exhibit only mechanical glee. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)