SKIP ACROSS THE OCEAN

Exuberant childlike paintings glow and almost run away with this eclectic grouping of 32 nursery rhymes. As the acknowledgements attest, Benjamin gathered rhymes the world over and arranged her harvest into ``Lullabies,'' ``Action Rhymes'' (with instructions for motion included on the same page that are not always clear or easy to follow), ``Nature,'' and a final mixed ``Grab Bag.'' Admirably, the interesting choicesfrom 23 countries on 6 continentsusually do not repeat those found in the countless collections already available. Benjamin provides the country or region in which each piece was found; sometimes the rhymes appear in English only, sometimes in English and another language, and in a few cases, untranslated, though rhythmic and readable. Moxley's paintings star here: bold colors, appealing subjects, primitive shapes that universalize the selections, all well matched to the text. The bonus is the design of the endpapers, comprised of a riotous patchwork quilt of images. (Picture book. 2- 6)