MISS EMMA'S WILD GARDEN

Miss Emma's Wild Garden (24 pp.; $15.00; PLB $14.93; Mar. 1997; 0-688-14692-9; PLB 0-688-14693-7): How does Miss Emma's well- loved garden grow? Wild and crazy, just the way she likes it. Chloe's father has a garden that is tame, cultivated into tidy rows, but Chloe prefers rambling through Miss Emma's garden and reveling in its many pleasures. Hines (What Joe Saw, 1994, etc.) provides acrylic paintings that make an abundant display of this garden; it's not all that unruly, but it is a welcome place for others—deer, rabbits, woodchucks, cardinals, butterflies, and Chloe—``the best wild creature in my wild, crazy garden,'' Miss Emma says. It's predictable as spring, but in its simplicity, almost as pleasing. (Picture book. 3-6)