Picnic Farm

This British import takes a merry and unique approach to a favorite preschool landscape, the farm. Spelled out in typography that undulates through the spreads, Morton's (The Pig That Barked) story couldn't be simpler. First, a farmer and his wife lead a girl and boy on a tour of their farm: ""A cow, a cow--a chewing cow./ A churn, a churn--a turning churn."" Then readers learn that everything they have seen leads in some way to a delicious picnic meal at the book's finish: ""Milk, milk--milked from the cow./ Butter, butter--made in the churn."" After the quartet consumes their meal al fresco, they nap ""on the good green grass."" Barringer's rollicking, full-bleed illustrations are rendered in densely applied candy colors of grape, orange, butterscotch and lime, and everything in her sunny landscape is plump and happy, from the roly-poly farmer and his zaftig wife and animals to the patchwork-like hills. The gentle reggae beat of the text, the multi-ethnic cast of characters and the vibrant palette all contribute to a tropical twist on the usual corn-fed setting. Ages 1-3. (Mar.)