THE ANIMALS' SONG

Fans of old-fashioned rhyming books will warm to this perky celebration of sight and sound: ``There was a little girl/With a silver flute,/Toot toot/Tootity toot,/Who puckered her lips/And blew her flute,/Tootity tootity toot.'' Soon she is joined by a little boy with ``a rumity drum,'' a hooty owl, a sleepy ``yippity'' dog, a cow, a pony, a rooster, a pig, bird, goose, lamb, duck, pigeon, and a shy mouse from ``under the sink.'' All together they make a crew that recalls the Bremen town musicians in a noisy, onomatopoeic parade: ``They sang and danced/And skipped along/With a flute and a drum/And the animals' song.'' The parade ends grandly; the girl who started it all is fast asleep in her sunset-drenched bedroom, her toys gathered around her. Children won't be able to resist joining in the merry rhymes, and the illustrations capture all the fun. This book, a group of preschoolers, and a rhythm band set form a cacophonous combination with appeal that's loud and clear. (Picture book. 2-6)