NIGHT ON NEIGHBORHOOD STREET

As ``dusk spins from daylight'' on Neighborhood Street, some children sing and play on the sidewalk, others trot sleepily to bed or lie wakeful. Juma gets a good-night hug from his Daddy; the Robinsons have ``fambly time''; Tonya's mother entertains her daughter's friends at a sleepover and—later that night—''blows lullaby sounds'' with her horn out over the silent street. Except for ``The Seller'' (``when the seller comes around/...all the children go inside/...they know his breath is cold'') and ``The Meeting,'' about an ever-angry neighbor, Greenfield's poems have a peaceful tone that is perfectly matched in Gilchrist's gentle, dreamy paintings, where brown skins glow with a warm light against soft-focus backgrounds of shadowed walls and deep, starry sky. A winning combination. (Poetry/Picture book. 3-6)