ANIMAL BABIES
by Valérie Tracqui & translated by Timothy Froggatt
Animal Babies ($4.95; July 1996; 10 pp.; 0-88106-947-7): This offering is riddled with problems. Granted, the crisp, light-filled, full-color photographs of baby animals are eye- catching: a little elephant taking a mud bath, baby mice nuzzling, a penguin chick and his dad standing at attention. Pleasant enough, these are, if void of drama. But Tracqui's text is numbing (``We are lion cubs. Our mother carries us by our necks''), and misidentifies two of the creatures: ``We are hungry robin chicks,'' sing the bluebirds; ``We are baby loons,'' warble the grebes. Good grief. (Board book. 1-5)