cover image Play Day: A Book of Terse Verse

Play Day: A Book of Terse Verse

Bruce McMillan. Holiday House, $14.95 (1pp) ISBN 978-0-8234-0894-8

A welcome companion to One Sun , this book, too, is a ``neat treat''--a delightful collection of ``terse verse'' (a very short rhyme consisting of two one-syllable words) accompanied by equally engaging color photos. Accomplished author/photo-illustrator McMillan comes up with 14 word pairs and has selected a quartet of huggable two-year-olds to act out each of the verse concepts while clearly--and messily--enjoying themselves completely. The concepts include word pairs such as ``fun run'' ``shirt dirt'' and ``blue shoe,'' all boldly photographed within a lush green scene--a summer lawn. As with most of the McMillan canon, the ideas can be extended well beyond the book's covers and the imagination is piqued by the arresting mix of visual and verbal imagery explored here. Ages 3-8. (Oct.)