BIOGRAPHY OF A KANGAROO RAT

Another Barbara Steiner animal biography, this chronicles the first year of Dipo, a kangaroo rat, with an excess of bounce-bounce-bouncing and thud-thud-thudding. The life cycle is adequately covered, and a number of unusual facts about the species and its environment are scattered throughout the text--kangaroo rats can leap six feet in the air, they use the starch in seeds they eat to create water internally. But much of the information gets lost in the melodrama (""What a close call!"") and treacle (""skipping along with a frisky bounce""). The black and white drawings, finely detailed and accurate, could substitute for the text in many places. As the pictures show, the animal is cute enough by itself; too much boinging is overkill.