FARMER’S DOG GOES TO THE FOREST

In short poems arranged for two voices, a dog converses with forest denizens (owl, moth, squirrel) and features (a trail, a brook, a tree): “Woodpecker, / Woodpecker, / what do you see? / Juicy bugs / inside this tree!” Some of the exchanges are inane—to a hungry spider: “Spider, Spider, / looking thinner. / Haven’t had a thing for dinner! / Maybe you built your web too high. / I want to catch a buzzy fly! /And if the fly just buzzes by? / I’ll sit here by myself and sigh”—but Harrison does at least vary the verse structure toward the end, and Johnson-Petrov’s woodland scenes, thinly brushed onto rough canvas, feature an appealingly wide-eyed border collie that bounds about all day, then returns for an affectionate nose-to-nose reunion with his master. An acceptable, if uneven, read-aloud candidate. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)