What in the World? - Hardcover

Eve Merriam was a prolific poet whose work for children includes There Is No Rhyme for Silver, The Inner-City Mother Goose, and You Be Good and I’ll Be Night.

Barbara J. Phillips-Duke is the illustrator of Digby by Barbara Shook Hazen (see page 63). She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

In yet another reworking of an old title (see Zolotow, below), Merriam's 36-year-old rhymed guessing game shows no signs of its age: Decked out in Phillips-Duke's colored, high-contrast artwork and fold-out pages, it is as fresh as ever. Six simple riddles, with answers concealed under flaps, comprise the entire book, with cats, frogs, rabbits, a mouse, and a monkey as the featured performers. ``What in the world/goes gnawing and pawing/scratching and latching/sniffing and squiffing/nibbling for tidbits of leftover cheese? Please?'' This brand of happy-go-lucky language characterizes the book, which demonstrates Merriam's well-chronicled delight in the sheer musicality of words; the riddles are pitched to gently provoke rather than confound. The heavy stock used in the book's production will likely withstand rigorous and multiple flips of the flaps. (Picture book. 3-6) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.