In what may be the definitive book of letter-reversal wordplay, late author-illustrator Silverstein (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Where the Sidewalk Ends) composes poems about cottontail Runny Babbit. He illustrates the verse in his signature devil-may-care ink line on bare white pages, and performs letter switcheroos to the point of reader exhaustion. An introductory poem explains the technique: "If you say, 'Let's bead a rook/ That's billy as can se,'/ You're talking Runny Babbit talk/ Just like mim and he." The exchange of consonants results in a new language, producing Lewis Carroll nonsense or placing familiar words in skewed contexts; for instance, Runny's family includes "A sother and two bristers,/ A dummy and a mad," which says a lot about parents. Runny also has an untidy porcine friend, leading him to sing a serenade with an Edward Learish zest and a classic Silverstein twist at the end, "Oh Ploppy Sig, oh pessy mig,/ Oh dilthy firty swine,/ Whoever thought your room would be/ As mig a bess as mine?" Signs posted on Runny's wall remind him, "tick up your poys," "peed your fet" and "bon't delch"; a restaurant serves "dot hogs" and "boast reef."

Silverstein also revises ditties such as "Dankee Yoodle" and runs roughshod over politeness ("Stand back! I'm Killy the Bid,/ And I'm fookin' for a light!"). Move over Hinky-Pink: this is sure to become the new classroom wordgame favorite. Silverstein's many fans will snap up this extended set of more than 40 puzzlepoems. All ages. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Mar.)

for reading aloud. Completed prior to his death in 1999, Silverstein's last collection is a celebration of the spoonerism, the verbal game of transposing words' first consonants. Each poem stars Runny Babbit, a skew-eared bunny of indeterminate age and multiple personas. Sometimes Runny is out on dates with his girlfriend; sometimes he is Everychild, with chicken pox and a messy room. Particularly funny are selections that insert Runny into familiar tales with a gleeful, subversive spin; in one scene, for example, Prince Runny searches for Cinderella, slass glipper in paw, but finds, instead, only lots of felly smeet. Although the book doesn't have the extraordinary wit and polish of Silverstein's earlier collections, it will still please the author's numerous fans with its silly scenarios and expressive ink drawings. Kids will instantly adopt the infectious wordplay on the subjects straight from their daily lives: Will it be a peanut jutter and belly or sam handwich for lunch?

In this very "billy sook," the words throughout the poems swap first and occasionally second letters. Runny Babbit, the book's hero, and his friends (including Ploppy Sig and Rirty Dat) are drawn in Silverstein's signature style, both comical and endearing. In the end, despite the wearying strain of decoding the poems, readers will find Runny both lovable and memorable.

Described as "a work in progress for over twenty years," this posthumous gathering of new verses and line drawings plays too long on a single trope, but makes a real knee-slapper in small doses. Most of the 42 entries star flop-eared Runny Babbit (with occasional appearances from Toe Jurtle, Ramma Mabbit, Ploppy Sig and similar fellow travelers) in various misadventures: A "Dungry Hog" teaches him to "trimb a clee" for instance, in the bath, "He chewed his dubber rucky up, / He gulped boap subbles too. / But what upset his Mamma most / Was shrinking the dampoo ," and "Runny be quimble / Runny be nick, / Runny cump over the jandlestick. / But now—what smells like furning bluff? / Guess he didn't hump jigh enough." Like the humor, the simple line drawings accompanying each poem are vintage Silverstein—so, gip, don't sulp, and enjoy this unexpected lagniappe from one of the greats. (Poetry. 7-11)

Gr 2-8-Forty-two of Shel Silverstein's poems from his best-selling book (HarperCollins, 2005), published posthumously, are performed by Dennis Locorriere. The poems are spoonerisms-the initial sounds of two words are transposed, so "Bunny Rabbit" become "Runny Babbit." The poems beg to be read aloud and Locorriere, who has performed Silverstein's poems in the past, has the perfect speed, pitch, and voice range to deliver these silly poems. The wordplay and rhymes will tickle listeners' funny bones. Kids may even be inspired to write their own spoonerisms after listening to this delightful CD. Schools will find this useful as a perfect example of this unusual form of poetry. Children and adults will be entertained by this humorous collection. A gem.-Marilyn Hersh, Hillside Elementary School, Farmington Hills, MI Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.