Acacia Terrace

Wilson has written a heartwarming story of a neighborhood's birth, decline and renewal. Unfortunately, the subject is so vast and the text so wordy that the picture-book format is not entirely successful: in order to cover the lengthy period depicted, the book is filled with an overabundance of cursory descriptions. Each verso is crowded with copy (one actually covers from just after World War II to ``The Age of Aquarius'') and faces Fielding's colorful, naive-style art. Though these vividly-colored pictures are lovely, they too are crammed with detail and are inaccessible portrayals with no sense of life. Nevertheless, the book does offer a bittersweet glimpse of times gone by and a promise of hope for the future. Ages 7-12. (Feb.)