I WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL TOO

The first American edition of a 1979 publication by the famed Swedish author that, surprisingly, is more memorable for its illustration than for its text. The routine plot concerns Lena, five, who envies her older brother peter, seven, going to school. One day he takes her along: they meet friends in the schoolyard for a game of marbles from which Lena is excluded; she is introduced to his classmates, who greet her with equability; there is a schoolyard fight during which Peter defends his right to take Lena to school with him; Lena shines in nature study and Peter doesn't during reading. The story is hardly distinctive, but the crowded, brightly colored illustrations are entertaining and full of detail that the careful eye can follow from picture to picture. Lena and Peter are full of movement and expression, and the perspectives and antic detail give a believable child's-eye view. A modest effort for older readers of picture books.