I WANT TO BE

The little princess decides it's time to grow up: ``Perhaps I should be different'' (holding her teddy over a potty) but how? Mum suggests being nice, ``like your father''; ``Be clean,'' remarks the cook; and so on, with each advice amusingly belied in Ross's cartoony illustrations—``loving'' Mum, cuddling one kitten, is eyed by another, obviously jealous; the cook is picking his nose; the ``brave'' general is terrified of the mice stealing sausages from the untidy kitchen. ``Growing up is SO difficult,'' muses the tot, finally trying out the potty, then deciding the maid has it right—the real question is what she wants to be. ``TALL,'' she announces, only to have her little brother point out that ``you ARE.'' Though the joke about contradictions between the grownups' words and actions is strung out almost too far, Ross's sly caricatures and visual innuendoes add considerable humor and subtlety to his simple-seeming story. (Picture book. 3-7)