SOMEBODY CATCH MY HOMEWORK

In his first collection of verse, the author of Little Boy Soup (1990) catches the school scene, from missing the bus on Monday morning to snuggling in with ``This book in bed,/This first FIRST book/I've ever read!'' In the meantime, there are not only challenges (``Does a capital q/That looks like a 2/Make sense to you?'') but emergencies (``I've gottogotothebathroom/The bathroom the bathroom'' has a comically urgent rhythm), rivalries, romances, and a quintessential ``worst boy in the whole class''—``wilder than a billygoat/And meaner than a pig''; school food; an impossible assignment (``But I'm half wild with fright!/You said to write two pages/And get them done tonight!''); there's also the title poem, an amusing tall tale of an excuse. It's all recognizable, neatly scanned, and genuinely funny. Lewin catches the lively characters—quizzical, wide-eyed, mischievous, or rueful—in just a few broad, adroitly drawn black lines to which she adds watercolor in cheerful colors. A winner- -to read aloud, pass around, and chortle over again. (Poetry. 6- 11)