THE LITTLE WORM BOOK

This arch mock-treatise on worms and worm care makes no attempt to communicate with the usual picture-book audience, though at $2.95 (and an unimposing 4fl"" x 6"") the Ahlbergs' pop-comic performance might shake a stray chuckle from an older child. It's made of such stuff as a worm-catcher's companion, complete with diagram of The Hollow Apple Trap; an illustrated guide to worm diseases (""a severe case of knots,"" ""swallowed a key""--as its shape reveals, ""Delusions: thinks he is a French loaf,"" etc.); and glimpses of the worm in history (toga-ed in Rome, sleeping underground through the battles of Hastings, Agincourt, Bordino, and Bull Run, and so on). For those acquainted with Skinner's pigeons, the Ahlbergs submit their World War II worms, ""trained to carry secret messages behind enemy lines"" and seen here emerging from a Red Cross box to assemble in a formation that spells out ""RUN FOR IT."" For whomever, it's less a library option than one of those ""more than a greeting card"" items for the card-cum-book shop.