FIVE LIVE BONGOS

Painter/Dad wants his children to sit quietly and learn to paint, but ``the Bongos'' have their own ideas. They can't help but trade in canvas and brushes for pots, pans, tins, trays, spoons, cups, and ladles. In a nonconforming, musical text reflecting various percussive moods, Lyon (Mama Is a Miner, p. 1133, etc.; Here and Then, see below) depicts the creative means the painter's five children adopt in pursuit of their ``Found Sound Band.'' After they raise a clamor with various kitchen utensils, ``cat's got her fur up/dog's gone to hide/parade's getting louder/road's getting wide,'' Mom (sitting at her desk and clutching her head) can't think straight, Dad can't mix his paints, and the five budding musicians are sent to exploit other resources in the garage and the city dump. While the text sometimes misses a beat, the lustrous illustrations bridge the temporary shifts in mood and scene, brilliantly syncopating with the cacophonous text. A lively invitation to readers, artists, inventors, and musicians to come join the anarchic fun. (Fiction/Picture book. 3- 8)