Commotion in the Ocean

From School Library Journal PreSchool-Grade 2-A mediocre collection of rhymes featuring different ocean animals. "The crab likes walking sideways/And I think the reason why,/Is to make himself look sneaky/And pretend that he's a spy." Although the poems are short, the vocabulary will occasionally be difficult for beginning readers. The opening and closing poems state that the book explores animals that live "beneath the sea," and yet polar bears and penguins are included. The brightly colored cartoon art is playful, but uninspired. Stick with Douglas Florian's In the Swim (Harcourt, 1997) for more creative writing and clever watercolor illustrations. Robin L. Gibson, Muskingum County Library System, Zanesville, Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.