The 20 lively animal poems in this large-sized picture-book anthology will appeal to young children. The poems are fun for reading aloud, from Eileen Spinelli's "Whale Watching" ("A splash of thunder / That fills me up / With tears of wonder") to Christina Rossetti's verse about a brown and furry "Caterpillar." Young conservationists might appreciate the double-page spread for Aileen Fisher's "Looking Around," where a child stands quietly smiling at the bees, birds, frogs, and ants in the meadow and marshes, disturbing nothing.