Take “Cat”: “A Cat/is a purr/wrapped up/in fur.”
Or “Cow”: “Be sure you know/where and how/before you try/to milk a cow.”

Ehlert illustrates her collection with her distinctive cut paper collages. Using a few basic shapes, pinking shears and hole punches, she captures the essence of buffalo, seahorse, raccoon, fox, iguana, shark and many more with brightly colored portraits that jump off the pages.

Ehlert is known for her many imaginatively illustrated picture books about nature, including “Leaf Man,” “Snowballs,” “Planting a Rainbow” and “Eating the Alphabet.”

Katz, who wrote “Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs,” has a good handle on what makes youngsters laugh. Yucky stuff, food disasters and gripes about siblings, school and parents – they’re all here and deftly handled in verse.

He describes Grandpa’s drool filling a whole pool and wonders whether “French flies eat French fries.”

The book features 100 poems. At the end, Katz tells the story of how he became a writer. It’s just as funny as the poems. That and the poems are illustrated with entertaining drawings by New Yorker cartoonist Edward Koren.

Blending the work of newer writers with such masters such as A.A. Milne, Margaret Wise Brown, Robert Louis Stevenson and Langston Hughes, Yolen and Peters have carefully selected 61 verses that are accessible and engaging to the youngest children.

They cover important topics such as clothes, food, nature, families, mud, bumblebees and bedtime.

Polly Dunbar’s colorful, lively illustrations depict endearing children and bounce along nicely with the verse.