Runny Babbit Returns: Another Billy Sook

Turns out there were more "completed but unassembled" spoonerism poems and accompanying b&w line drawings in the Silverstein vault. Hence, this follow-up to 2005's posthumous "billy sook," Runny Babbit. Through 41 short verses, readers follow the eponymous rabbit--whose floppy ears are complemented by a perpetual look of surprise--back into the woods for tongue-twisting adventures and encounters. Some poems feel like a silly exaggeration of kid life: Runny Babbit loves "nuttered boodles" so much that he marries them ("You may biss the kride" says the officiant). Others speak to a growing sense of agency, as when he puts a caged "lighty mion" in his place (" 'And what are you, you shrittle limp?'/ And Runny answered, 'Free.' "). There's even a pretty good flatulence spoonerism, courtesy of a "dire-breathin' fragon" ("If I'm inpited to your varty, / Then I'll fart your stire for you"). A little of this may go a long way with adult readers, but it's the kind of comedy that can will have kids riding the giggle express--with stops for nuttered boodles, of course. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)

Gr 1-4-Eighteen years after the author's death and 12 years after the publication of the first collection of Runny Babbit spoonerisms, a new book of 41 "completed but unpublished works" has surfaced from Silverstein's archive. In this volume, Runny Babbit makes discoveries, enjoys himself, and finds his way out of more than a few scrapes. Each situation becomes wackier and more entertaining with the transposed first parts of words and syllables that create the spoonerisms: "Runny porgot his farachute/And plumped out of a jane./He landed right on Doc Ocrile/Who was randin' in the stain." Well-chosen words come together to form lines with natural rhythm and punch as well as endless opportunities for amusement. In one verse, a dragon tells Runny, "If I'm inpited to your varty, /then I'll fart your stire for you.'" The distinctive line illustrations provide not only more humor but also lovable personalities to wide-eyed Runny and the other characters he interacts with on the page. Readers can choose to dip in and out of this book, or, if they have real stamina for silliness, they can plow straight through. The volume ends as all great days do, with Ramma Mabbit reading stories like "Dumpty Humpty" and "Loldigocks and the Bee Threars" and a final good night poem to Runny Babbit "and all his foodland wriends." VERDICT A new Silverstein title is a welcome addition to all poetry shelves, and this one offers plenty of joy and laughter to those who read or listen to it read aloud.--Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA