NEW FRIENDS IN SHEPHERD'S MEADOW

This is based on little snatches of Life Experience, as told to the author's own children (Mr. Hutterer is a schoolteacher in Munich). Anyway, it deals with a family's move from a village to Stuttgart, into a modern apartment with a modern bathroom in chrome. And in chapters varying from a paragraph to several pages, the children three, including Martin, four, explore a construction site, find a shepherd and his wagon, visit a skyscraper and a pet shop, and finally acquire a new kitten. The length of the text puts this in this age group although the interest (what interest?) puts this at Martin's level. And it's questionable if American youngsters will get quite the same bang out of modern plumbing fixtures or appliances.