I SPY

A childhood game becomes an unusual alphabet book: readers are challenged to search fine paintings (their dates ranging from a 15th-century illuminated book to a 1967 painting by David Hockney; all but one from Western art), exquisitely reproduced, for ``something beginning with'' successive letters: a task leading naturally to examination of the entire painting and naming many things within it. Some are harder than others, but the rewards are commensurably greater. The paintings are well chosen for quality, variety, and appeal; a key provides identifications and locations. An unusual and effective approach to familiarizing young children with art. (Nonfiction/Picture book. 5-8)