UNDER THE SUN

A simple go-to-bed book (the author's first), this includes instructions for an elementary experiment to show the sun's relationship to the turning earth. Molly asks where the sun goes when she goes to bed; her mother tells her that it goes to the Mississippi, where a boy sees it set, then on to the Great Plains, and so forth, setting beyond one country after another. It sets on a panda in China; then, while a Russian boy goes to bed, Molly wakes to find the sun at her window. The author suggests ""a big ball, a flashlight, and a friend"" to demonstrate the sun's progress. The pen-and-watercolor illustrations are exactly right, whether evoking the sea gulls by the Golden Gate Bridge or the Mongolian Desert. The sunset unites the American child with her counterparts, especially the Russian boy whose bedroom is almost identical to hers.