MARKET!

Lewin (Sacred River, 1995, etc.) expertly plies pen and brush in a rousing invitation to six far-flung marketplaces where vibrant color and lively haggling replace mass production and spurious supermarket specials. From the scintillating text that accompanies realistic watercolors, readers absorb much factual data, learning how the descendants of the Incas get and sell their onions and bitter potatoes, their sheep and llama wool, their bowls and knives and rope and spices in the market in Saquisill near Ambato, Ecuador; the look of the temples and serenely white mountains that edge the bustle in Durbar Square in Patan near Katmandu, Nepal; the sound of the ``quick, lean trotters and heavy piebald beauties'' that arrive at the horse market of Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland; the meat slaughter at the sunny market in Uganda near Kabalega Falls and the fish-gutting at the Fulton Fish Market in New York City; the buzz of happy negotiation at the market in Rissani near Morocco's Erfoud. Lewin's prodigious talent is to make readers feel that they've been there—better yet, that they must go there. What journeys he'll inspire! (Picture book. 5+)