MERRY-GO-DAY Sheree Fitch. Illustrated by Molly Bobak. Toronto, ON: Doubleday Canada, 1991. 48pp., cloth, $16.50. ISBN 0-385-25244 7. CIP. Subject Heading: Children's poetry, Canadian (English). Grades 1-4 / Ages 6-9 Reviewed by Ray Doiron. Volume 20 Number 3 1992 May One of the most exciting things children like to do and one of the fondest memories adults have of childhood is the annual visit to the exhibition. Sheree Fitch has brought to life all the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of this familiar experience. The text demonstrates Fitch's keen sense of rhythm, her feel for the fun of language, and her understanding of what a trip to the exhibition is like. Fitch starts the adventure in the long lineup waiting to get into the exhibition and then takes us on a ride through the many sights and sounds inside the exhibition, such as the Zapper, the haunted house, dripping ice cream cones, pink cotton candy and bumpy bumper cars. The journey ends with the final satisfaction of a day well spent and the knowledge that next year it will all happen again. Running throughout is the disappointment of trying and failing to win a purple parrot in a game of chance, another experience familiar to most people. The text calls out to be read aloud and the reader will need to re-read it to become familiar with the text and to give it its full impact. The language is loud, boisterous, musical and animated. The rhythms match the sounds of the machines, the shouts of the barkers, the thrills of the rides, and smells and tastes of the foods. One reading is not enough. The noises, the smells, the familiar foods, the colour of the lights, the squeals of delight are all captured in the wonderfully animated illustrations by Molly Bobak, who also collaborated with Fitch on the highly successful Toes in My Nose (Doubleday Canada, 1987). Their partnership on this book provides an equally satisfying and pleasurable read. Recommended. Ray Doiron, Glen Stewart Elementary School, Southport, P.E.I.