MY ALBUM

A problematic mustering, in album form, of the important persons in a young girl's life. Each opening has a picture and a page of explanatory text. Initially, these interest: ""My father reads the newspaper every day. I think he reads every word."" ""My mother is a doctor. She has her office in our house."" But as they go on, offering little more than subjective fragments about a painter uncle (""I like the big window, and the light flooding in, and the paintings hanging everywhere. I like the fruit and the dishes. . ."") or a dancer cousin (""Allison loves Swan Lake. So do I""), a certain ennui sets in. True, vignettes of this sort might be the makings of a book about a child of seven or so, like the one pictured. But as a long string of longish ""I-like""s (and ""maybe-I'll-be's), it's a lot to expect most children to sit through.