TO THE TUB

``To the tub,'' instructs Joe's amiable father. Joe, a frog, is not averse, at least not openly, but he needs a few toys to accompany him: a pail and boat, a rubber octopus, and a beach ball, for starters. Joe's dad urges him bathward as Joe heaps his father higher and higher with tubside entertainments, until he stumbles and offloads the cargo into a mud puddle. Well, a mud bath is better than no bath. Suitable goofiness, in spite of less-than- felicitous rhyming (``Instead of dirty-green and slimy, you'll be squeaky-clean and shiny!'') keeps this story of maneuverings sprightly and humorous, as do the ebullient cartoony drawings, which aptly demonstrate the good-natured parry and thrusts that mark the lighter moments of parent-child discourse. Does Joe get the bath? He's last seen outside the tub, scrubbing his father's back. (Picture book. 3-7)