Who Is Tapping at My Window?

A child tries to discover who is tapping at the window

PreSchool-K A young girl hears a tapping at her window and wonders who is there; one by one all of the creatures on the farm respond, ``It's not I.'' Adapted from a poem by Deming, the comfortable rhythm of this story in rhyme soon reveals the culprit to be the rain. The illustrations, unfortunately, do little to reinforce the soothing quality of the text: the collage-type pictures are somewhat wooden and clumsy, whereas the text is more fluid and smooth. Also, the pictures don't coincide with the text: in many of them, it isn't raining. As such, this is only a marginal purchase. Laura McCutcheon, St. Catherine's School, Richmond, Va.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

When a little girl asks who is tapping at her window, the farm animalsfrom the cat to the rat, the fox to the oxall deny doing so. Finally, however, the culprit owns up. The observant reader, once aware of the perpetrator, will realize that the culprit is visible in almost every illustration, and will wonder why the answer wasn't obvious sooner. Found in an old anthology of children's verse, Deming's poem includes some rarer animalsa loon and a cony, for example. But what will enchant children are the repetitions of "It's not I" by each of the animals. Wellington's illustrations have a bold, naive style; her pictures seem to be those of a seasoned illustrator rather than a first-time artist. Ages 2-5.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.