I LOVE MY BUSY BOOK

This compendium of toddler basics—the alphabet, shapes, colors, rhymes, alliteration, emotions, manners, opposites, the body, dressing up, and numbers—is more of a product than a book. The manual is divided into 15 short chapters—usually a double-page spread each. The alphabet section uses alliterative phrases: ``Jolly Jeremy jellies Joseph,'' in which a rabbit is seen spooning jelly onto his friend; ``Funny Frank flips flapjacks,'' in which a young mouse works next to the flames of a cast-iron stove; and ``Impossible Imogene irons ice cubes,'' which shows an electrical-accident-waiting-to-happen, a plugged- in iron atop puddles of melting ice. A section called ``We All Dress Up'' uses trite rhymes—``Black hat, how about that?''—to send readers searching for articles of clothing. Two pages of manners are too feeble to cover the universe of behavior, sharing, and table etiquette; on a page that shows the parts of the body, a rabbit's paw is labeled hand. Shapes, colors, and prepositions are covered in one chapter: ``Beverly balances on top of five fuchsia cylinders,'' an act that sounds dangerous, looks worse, and the color is not exactly fuchsia. Populated by wide-eyed, perennially cheerful animals, this book is no substitute for the wide range of titles (by Anne Rockwell, Byron Barton, and others) that turn concepts for preschoolers into high art. (Picture book. 2-6)