EDWARD IN DEEP WATER

One of three variations on a theme, aimed directly at impatient parents. Edward really can't swim yet and is the only guest at Georgina's pool party still wearing water wings; when she pops them and pushes him in, he needs to be rescued by the lifeguard. In pointed response to the plethora of books pushing early self-reliance, Wells (Max and Ruby's Midas, p. 642) offers this and two other small-format episodes—Edward Unready For School (ISBN 0-8037-1884-5) and Edward's Overwhelming Overnight (1883-7) - -featuring an anxious-looking bear who doesn't respond well to new challenges, and calm adults who bail him out. Edward never blooms; the message, made explicit for denser readers, stops at ``Not everyone is ready for the same things at the same time.'' It's a worthy thought, although, unlike Wells's Bunny Planet series (Voyage to the Bunny Planet, 1992, etc.), the plots are rudimentary and interchangeable. (Picture book. 2-4)