Let's Go Visiting

Here Williams and Vivas present a cumulative counting tale bursting with frisky baby animals. A wild-haired child issues an invitation to a friendly golden retriever: "Let's go visiting. What do you say?/ One brown foal is ready to play." All three then start a small parade as they move on to visit two red calves, three black kittens and so on, until they find "six yellow puppies... ready to play." Eventually, the weary menagerie curls up in the hay for a communal nap. Toddlers will chime in with Williams' simple, repetitive narrative, and Vivas' unadorned, large-scale watercolor art offers a bright visual subtext: after a quartet of playful pink piglets coats themselves and the youngster with mud, a visit to the habitat of five green ducklings (one of whom perches atop a pig's head) gives the grimy group a chance to wash off. And kids will be delighted to note that the irresistible pups who complete this counting tale belong to the child's canine companion.