LEONORA O'GRADY

A nonsense rhyme celebrates a joyous older neighbor. Every morning, Leonora steps outside to water bulging bags of ``Popcorn from Paraguay/Snakeskins from Spain/A buffalo's toothbrush/A tube full of rain'' and other found materials; at night she dances in the city park across the street (``She's the moon shadow's daughter/The old statue's wife./And together they tango...'') until—on some summer nights—she falls asleep on a park bench. In Cornell's exuberant art, energetic dots and dashes define tumbled shapes in splashes of color as, trailed by the admiring young narrator, gray-haired Leonora grins cheerfully at the world and pushes a shopping cart exploding with tangles of bric-a-brac. A childlike tribute with no hint of the darker side connoted by Leonora's free-spiritedness. (Picture book. 6-8)