LOOKING AT SWEDEN

Word- and picture-wise, an appreciative but nonetheless candid look -- apartments are well-equipped but cramped; vacation cottages are an outlet -- except for father summering alone in the city: ease of housekeeping enables mothers to work ""which call be rather hard on young children."" Some traditional courtesies remain -- little boys bow, little girls curtsey; many traditional foods are shunned -- concern with a well-balanced diet and cost are controlling. The section on life is the liveliest but there's an efficient rundown on history and the surveys of Stockholm and the various regions are flavored with the prevailing frankness: few Lapps, for instance, still keep reindeer herds and those few ""visit them in light aircraft."" Re ""Industry and Craftsmanship,"" some of the excitement Swedish boys find in engineering is conveyed, and something of the quality of Swedish craftsmanship: their one camera, the Hasselblad, was selected for American moon missions. The extensive social services (not without a tinge of 'father-knows-best') give Swedes ""A Sense of Security"" while the educational system is geared toward ""Learning for Life."" Alternate pages in color, as per the series practice, and altogether a congenial introduction, for younger children the obvious current choice.