The meisters of madcap are at it again. This time, Prelutsky and Sís (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">The Dragons Are Singing Tonight) head off on safari to Scranimal Island, an exotic spot full of odd hybrid creatures just ripe for their devious brand of silliness. Whether tracking a caravan of Camelberta Peaches ("All have humpy, bumpy backs,/ Stocked with water, juice, and snacks,/ So the creatures never need/ Wonder where to drink or feed"), avoiding the clutches of the dread Radishark ("Its appalling, bulbous body/ Is astonishingly red,/ And its fangs are sharp and gleaming/ In its huge and horrid head") or spying on the Bananaconda ("How sinuous and sly you are,/ How slippery, how yellow"), they scramble up a smorgasbord of flora and fauna. Prelutsky tweaks language with his characteristic glee, wedging in plenty of humor ("Poor Avocadodos,/ Ungainly and green,/ You're gone from today's/ Biological scene") and, as always when Sís is on board, his exquisite artistry raises the bar, adding depth to Prelutsky's light verse. Plying his trademark delicate line and crosshatching, Sís sets off the fantastic creatures against spare, expansive vistas, investing the muted ink-and-watercolor illustrations with a quizzically visionary style. A pair of brightly clad young explorers lurk at the edge of each scene, adding a droll visual grace note. All ages. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Sept.)

for reading aloud. Prelutsky and Sis follow previous titles such as The Gargoyle on the Roof (1999) with another beautifully illustrated collection of nonsense verse that celebrates creatures of the imagination who, described in singsong verse, are sailing to Scranimal Island. Each spread features a different scrambled creature that is often a hybrid of animal and vegetable. There is the sleek, snakelike Bananconda; a pride of green Broccolions; and a fierce Radishark, whose enormous, red fish-head comes complete with a radish-root snout. Prelutsky's language is uneven, and despite the humor and some delicious rhymes, many selections are stilted and slightly forced. It is Sis' fantastical illustrations that will generate the most excitement. His beasts shine with seemingly irrepressible personalities, and he creates a layered story in the scenes of a boy and girl who travel through the enchanted, slightly prehistoric otherworld. Read this aloud to small groups so that children can crowd up close and take in the jokes and the fantasy in the glorious images.

This series imparts much useful information about money but leaves holes: only one of the two one-dollar coins mentioned is described; the Treasury's intent to thwart counterfeiters doesn't come up in the discussion of paper money's design; etc. Each book features a "Math Connection" quiz (answers provided) and posed, poor-quality photos of kids dealing with dough. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind.

Sis's hallucinogenic art takes Prelutsky's ever-clever comic verses in new directions in this topflight returning superstar collaboration ( The Gargoyle on the Roof , 1999, etc.). A pair of young tourists accepts the poet's invitation to visit Scranimal Island, uncharted home to such hybrid curiosities as leafy Spinachickens, blobby Hippopotamushrooms, a pride of Broccolions, and the sedentary Potatoad: "It does not move, it does not think, / It does not eat, it does not drink, / It does not hear or taste or touch . . . / The POTATOAD does not do much / . . . To pose immobile by a road / Suffices for the POTATOAD." Using pale tones overall, but adding flashes of brighter color, Sis depicts the 19 vegemals (anitables? flauna?) and their surroundings in typically obsessive detail; he also creates an aerial view of the entire island that rewards careful examination, and tiny bits of background business for sharp-eyed viewers to spot. Prolific they may be, but poet and illustrator have never done better work than this hilarious, inventive cousin to Edward Lear's nonsense botany and zoology. (Poetry. 7-12)

Gr 2-5-Prelutsky introduces the curious inhabitants of Scranimal Island through his skillful and captivating poems. The creatures, such as the Mangorilla and Orangutangerine, are each a cross between an animal and a fruit, vegetable, or flower, and behave accordingly. For instance, "On a bump beside a road/Sits a lowly POTATOAD,/Obviously unaware/Of its own existence there./On its coarse and warty hide,/It has eyes on every side,/Eyes that fail, apparently,/To take note of what they see." S's's illustrations are a wonderful combination of the eerie and humorous (readers might be reminded of his fantastical island in Komodo! [Greenwillow, 1993]), and give children a visual clue as to the creature's elements, in case they haven't figured it out yet. (A rebus-like chart on the back cover is more explicit, illustrating "potato + toad = potatoad", etc.) Hippopotamushrooms smile benevolently from their forest floor, the Pandaffodil munches bamboo beatifically, majestic Broccolions stalk the lithe Antelopetunia. These black-line and watercolor illustrations in a light palette take up three-quarters of each spread; the verses, in large and legible black type, accompany them on a pastel-tinged antique paper background. On occasion on this island, readers may come across a creature that is a cross of two animals (no plant matter involved), such as the Ostricheetah or the Stormy Petrelephant. Though as eloquently described, they are simply not as funny as the Porcupineapple or the Avocadodos, and somehow spoil the fun. The point of nonsense, after all, is to stick to the rules-just, the wrong rules. Nevertheless, Prelutsky and S's have pulled off something great here-it is their best collaboration to date.-Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.