We are mad for poet-painter Douglas Florian. We were buzzed by Insectlopedia, moony for Mammalabilia, and batty for his other beautifully biological, biologically beautiful books as well. We love Florian for his clever, downright shameless wordplay. One of our favorite poems in Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs is "The Wood Frog": I am a frozen frogsicle. I froze beneath a logsicle. My mind is in a fogsicle Inside this icy bogsicle. My temperature is ten degrees. I froze my nose, my toes, my knees. But I don't care, I feel at ease, For I am full of antifreeze. Another favorite is "The Polliwogs:" We polliwoggle. We polliwiggle. We shake in lakes, Make wakes, And wriggle. We quiver, We shiver, We jiggle, We jog. We're yearning To turn ourselves Into a frog. We love Florian equally for his playful paintings that manage to be visual puns as well as suitable-for-framing pieces of art. A subtle and delightful use of color combine with brilliant composition and some collage work to create a marvelous menagerie--this time accompanying 21 reptile and amphibian poems. Neither cobra nor chameleon escape pun-ishment from this talented wordsmith. We will patiently await the next beastly poetic parade from Florian! (Ages 5 to 10) --Karin Snelson