OCTOBER SMILED BACK
by Lisa Westberg Peters & illustrated by Ed Young
October Smiled Back ($14.95; Sept. 1996; 32 pp.; 0-8050-1776-3): Personification is difficult to present in poetry directed at young children, but Peters (The Hayloft, 1995, etc.) achieves some success with this quiet ramble through a single year. Though really one long poem, and featuring about one month per spread, this striking book pairs brief rhymes with oversized torn paper collages. ``Lazy February'' is a sleepy cheetah, ``Frisky March'' is depicted as a leaping goat, while August is a soaring gull. Children may not connect with this on their own, but it may make an accessible prelude to more formal poetic encounters. (Picture book. 5-8)