Marvelous Market on Mermaid

From Publishers Weekly Melmed's (The Rainbabies) verse is rich and right on target in this nostalgic, big-hearted cumulative tale. Borrowing the meter of "The House That Jack Built," she walks the reader straight into Grandma's well-ordered store: "This is the bell that ting-a-lings,/ when someone opens up the door?/ the sky blue door on Grandma's store,/ the Marvelous Market on Mermaid." The neatly constructed verses erupt in a scene of marketplace mayhem, complete with a classic cat and mouse chase and a deserving stranger who gets a much-needed job with Grandma. Kids will enjoy the varying volume here, from the reasonably quiet opening to the boisterous "eeeeeks" and "stre-e-eaks" of the chase scene. Kovalski (The Wheels on the Bus) peoples the story with stout, folksy characters a la Margot Zemach. Setting the time in some bygone era when potatoes cost 10 cents a pound, she contributes pickle barrels, wicker baby carriages and other props that invite the reader's attention. Repeat visits to this market are surely in store. Ages 3-up. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From School Library Journal PreSchool-K?This cumulative story features an old-fashioned corner store and a door, a bird, a cat, a mouse, and a broom...well, you get the idea. The store is filled with barrels and crates of produce, and with a grandmother proprietor in an apron and customers in suspenders and shawls. The rhyming text is simple and full of action. The pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations are detailed, yet sketchy enough to convey movement. The culmination of the tale?merchandise falling as the cat chases the mouse?will please youngsters as everyone pitches in?cumulatively?to clean up.?Christine A. Moesch, Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, NYCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.