THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

A popular seasonal work is packaged with sparkling full-color photographs of undeniably adorable infants dressed up as the characters in the song. The first page features a baby dressed up as a partridge, sitting on top of a plastic pear tree. The text appears on lefthand pages, printed in fancy italics on elegant backgrounds. The photographs on the right contain sly jokes: the ``Three French Hens'' are wearing berets, the ``Four Calling Birds'' are pictured with a telephone. The whole book is an extended Christmas card, with the music to the song included at the end. Toddlers love the repetitions of the song, and they like looking at babies. Geddes's first children's book looks like it can't miss. (Picture book. 2-4)