BABY'S BOOK OF NATURE

The generous use of bright full-color photos of fuzzy ducklings, kittens, and flowers in this concept book will appeal to babies, but the fussy layout, vocabulary, and concepts are not very accessible to the young. A typical spread shows objects in thin frames of color; in the one labeled ``Color in Nature,'' fish swim beyond their borders into autumn leaves, and the parrots look ready to eat the butterflies. Size is not taken into consideration as part of perceptual realism—a flower looks as large as the goose. Flather provides marvelous woodcut-like endpapers; on these are tiny framed objects that also appear in the corners of every spread. The color reproduction is vivid if inaccurate: ``orange mandarin'' and ``yellow dandelion'' appear side by side as the same color. ``Animal Moves,'' introduces vocabulary: fluttering butterfly, waddling ducks, etc., but these are still photos, making the action word useless. ``Get Together'' offers opportunities for caregivers and babies to interact, perhaps with difficulty, e.g., few babies can categorize a wild rose and an allium as flowers, or butterflies and beetles as insects. There is a need for concept books for babies, but this does not meet the high standards set by Tana Hoban (Spirals, Curves, Fanshapes and Lines, 1992, etc.) and others. (Nonfiction. 3-7)