THE VEGETABLE SHOW

Eat your vegetables. It's an ancient refrain, one whose totalitarian ring has always rubbed kids the wrong way. Here it gets recycled with all the subtlety of a stomach ache. It's vegetable vaudeville night at the Garden Street Theater, and the cukes and taters are performing their hearts out, but edification, not entertainment, gets top billing, and the agenda is hammered home with a vengeance. These veggies are bores who can't stop chirping their healthy attributes: Ms. Shelly and the Wee Peas are ``Protein-packed'' and the Veggettes are ``vitamin powered.'' Subtitles assault readers like brain-washing sessions: ``Beans are a tummy's friend'' and ``Perfect at mealtimes and in between.'' There is even a ditty called ``Veggies Are Not for Sissies.'' Riddles have the snap of old celery—``What's green and flies? Super Pea!'' The vibrantly colored artwork—cut paper and prints, found objects, and nice linework combined in dazzling collage scenes— show the care and good intentions behind the book, but nearly bury subtitles as well as the copyright and title pages. An annotated listing of vegetables closes the show. (Picture book. 4-8)