True Companions

Favorite friends return in new adventures this spring. Having held her own on the stage and baseball diamond, the heroine dons an apron for Beverly Billingsly Takes the Cake by Alexander Stadler. In her haste to bake up a birthday surprise for Oliver, the gal neglects to grease the pan; luckily, her creative problem-solving saves the day. (Harcourt, $16 32p ages 3-7 ISBN 0-15-205357-3; Mar.)

The feathered fellow first introduced in Dawdle Duckling is up to his old tricks in Ready or Not, Dawdle Duckling by Toni Buzzeo, illus. by Margaret Spengler. Scenes of the hero's friends (a turtle, frog and fish) attempting to obscure the hero from his mother's view during hide-and-seek will have readers chortling. (Dial, $15.99 32p ages 2-up ISBN 0-8037-2959-6; Jan.)

After mastering 1, 2, 3 in Count the Ways, Little Brown Bear, the ursine hero and his Papa tackle the alphabet in Do Your ABC's, Little Brown Bear by Jonathan London, illus. by Margie Moore. The father turns learning into a game, encouraging his cub to pick an apple for A and toss a ball for B (Z sees the furry fellow tucked in at night). Moore's illustrations convey the strong bond between the bear pair. (Dutton, $15.99 32p ages 3-up ISBN 0-525-47360-2; Mar.)

What Michael Rex did for creatures on the move in Truck Duck he now does for athletic animals in Dunk Skunk. One spread shows a feline slugger sending a baseball over the head of a winged outfielder ("Bat Cat/ Glove Dove"), in another, a "Freestyle Crocodile" puts the moves on a skateboard. However, the "Hurdle Turtle," a diminutive green fellow bounding over a series of seemingly insurmountable blue barriers against a fire truck—red backdrop, may take first prize. (Putnam, $10.99 32p ages 2-up ISBN 0-399-24281-3; Mar.)

For Enquiring Minds

Several series add brain-expanding entries this spring. Husband-and-wife team Ted and Betsy Lewin's third in their adventure series (after Gorilla Walk and Elephant Quest) takes readers to Australia for Top to Bottom Down Under. They explore the lagoon habitat of the Yellow Water Billabong and the 200-pound barramundi fish, the freshwater mangrove where bonzer crocs lurk, as well as the flood plains where a pack of dingos feasts on a fallen water buffalo. Kangaroos, koalas and other favorite Aussie critters also abound. (HarperCollins, $15.99 40p ages 6-up ISBN 0-688-14113-7; Mar.)

The second Turning Point Book, a series focusing on pivotal moments in the young lives of American presidents, spotlights the inaugural chief in Take the Lead, George Washington by Judith St. George, illus. by George Powers. A folksy narrative smoothly weaves together anecdotes illuminating his early experiences, including his "turning point": the 16-year-old's participation in a month-long survey trip, slogging through cold rain and muddy marshes, and encountering an Indian war party (good training for crossing the Delaware). Powers's watercolors capture the hero's energy and optimism. (Philomel, $16.99 48p ages 5-up ISBN 0-399-23887-5; Jan.)

Raymond Bial also zeroes in on the first president in Where Washington Walked, using the format of the photographic tour he employed in his previous Where Lincoln Walked. Here readers view George's birthplace, the Mount Vernon plantation he inherited from his brother, the hastily built Fort Necessity he erected during the French and Indian War, and New York City's Federal Hall where the president was inaugurated. These snapshots of history add up to a solid introductory overview to Washington's career. (Walker, $18.95 48p ages 8-12 ISBN 0-8027-8899-8; Jan.)

In the first of several titles that test readers' perceptions, City 1 2 3 points up the abundance of numbers in urban settings via Zoran Milich's photographs, a follow-up to his The City ABC Book. From the numeral one on the back of a bystander's lime-green shirt to the 10 gold mail slots on an apartment building, the images offer a visually enticing (and educational) tour. (Kids Can, $15.95 32p ages 2-5 ISBN 1-55337-540-8; Mar.)

The paper-over-board Over Under by Marthe Jocelyn, illus. by Tom Slaughter, uses the same spare text and bold, blocky illustrations as their One Some Many to demonstrate opposites. In an especially clever pairing, a red bird stands on an apparent grassy mound for "inside," and a turn of the page reveals a turtle "outside" of his shell—the green mound from the previous page. (Tundra, $15.95 24p ages 2-5 ISBN 0-88776-708-7; Mar.)

As he did with Imagine a Night, artist Rob Gonsalves once again creates haunting optical illusions with Imagine a Day by Sarah Thomson. Is that a tree's reflection in the water, or a leafy growth that breaks the surface? Is the foundation of a train's bridge made of stone, or human acrobats? What makes up a picket fence, pickets or skyscrapers? Gonsalves calls into question the way that visual impressions color one's interpretation of reality. (S&S/Atheneum, $16.95 40p all ages ISBN 0-689-85219-3; Feb.)

Two additions to the Poetry for Young People series highlight the verse of Wallace Stevens, ed. by John Serio, illus. by Robert Gantt Steele, and Animal Poems, ed. by John Hollander, illus. by Simona Mulazzani. The first describes Stevens's vocation as a lawyer and secret love of poetry; fans will be pleased that his "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" sits alongside poems with more childlike themes such as "The Emperor of Ice-Cream." Steele's watercolors range from dreamy to realistic, and emphasize the poems' more playful aspects.

Mulazzani's oil paintings will draw readers into Animal Poems ; her portrait of Robert Frost's "The Oven Bird" and the snake's habitat as described in "A Narrow Fellow" invite close inspection. (Sterling, $14.95 each 48p ages 7-up ISBN 1-4027-0925-0; 1-4027-0926-9; Feb.)