THE HOKEY POKEY

While the Sun Valley Trio, the tune's originators, may no longer be household words, the Hokey Pokey has become a sort of goofy party classic that, since it was introduced in the 1950s, young and old can step to. Verse by verse, Hamanaka (Bebop-A-Do- Walk, 1995, etc.) frames the song in vigorous acrylics of kids and animals moving to the beat, in scenes that bleed right off the page and show evermore participants as the song progresses. The book throbs with the mayhem of the multitudes putting their left hips in, taking their left hips out, putting their left hips in—and that's before the command to ``put your whole self in.'' Along with a page of scoring, the book also provides a history of the Hokey Pokey. Most children will want to dance, not read, but they will come away with a firm grasp of right and left. (Picture book. 2-6)