CHILDREN'S CORNER.

Ages 1-3 years WHERE IS BABY'S BELLY BUTTON? By...

August 27, 2000|By Mary Harris Russell. Mary Harris Russell, who teaches English at Indiana University Northwest, reviews children's books each week for the Tribune.

Ages 1-3 years

WHERE IS BABY'S BELLY BUTTON?

By Karen Katz

Little Simon, $5.99

Though adults and most children have no doubt about the answer to the title question, the fun here is in playing peek-a-boo with the lift-up flaps that hide the answers to that and similar questions. They don't always pull in the same direction, so a young reader can enjoy finding how to lift them. The pictures are simple and bright, but you haven't seen them all before, so the answers aren't always immediately obvious, which is a treat.

Ages 9-12 years

LIVES OF EXTRAORDINARY WOMEN:

Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought)

By Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt

Harcourt, $20

Keeping the same format found in their well-reviewed books on writers and artists, Kathleen Krull and Kathryn Hewitt give a biographical overview of each woman here and conclude with a short sense of what that woman's contemporaries thought of her and how her reputation has changed. Readers get a warts-and-all approach but also see what factors influence reputation. The quirks, the achievements and the defects of these women are handled in a breezy style. Some of the less-well-known subjects -- Gertrude Bell's influence on Iraq, or Jeannette Rankin's contributions to pacifism and suffrage -- are especially interesting.

Ages 5-7 years

DOGGIE DREAMS

By Nancy Kapp Chapman, illustrated by Lee Chapman

Putnam, $15.99

Who hasn't wondered when seeing a sleeping dog twitch? After an initial concession that some dogs may be so ordinary as to dream of square meals or kind hands, Nancy Kapp Chapman and her husband, Lee, begin to document the canine world's different drummers, the ones who dream as people do. These grinning dogs are wonderful. One dreams of being a bus driver taking his load of hounds on tours of "Hollywoof." A "very strange Dalmatian" dreams of "leading the nation," and we see a political convention scene with delegate signs for "Paw Power" and "No Hounds in Pounds." The pictures have the flat, polychrome look of exuberant Mexican folk art. Silly and smile-producing.

Ages 3-6 years

MY LITTLE RED TOOLBOX

By Stephen T. Johnson

Harcourt, $14.95

The only trouble with an adult buying this book for a child is that the adult will undoubtedly want to keep it for himself or herself. The paper technology here is innovative. For each double-page spread there is a thick cardboard tool (a saw, a hammer, etc.) deeply incised into the page that can be pried out, used and then returned to its space. The text tells how to plan a project, with ruler, pencil and tools. Counting, recognizing shapes and manipulating the tools are activities encouraged on each page (for example, the big screwdriver actually fits into the heads of cardboard screws that turn). Find this book at a store and you'll see that the fun is literally built in. Remember, you're buying this to give to a child, not to keep.

Ages 9-12 years

SLEDS ON BOSTON COMMON

By Louise Borden, illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker

McElderry, $17

The complexity of the Revolutionary period in America may seem just beyond the grasp of moviemakers, but it has led to some excellent children's books, and this is another. Working from local Boston lore that children asked a British general to clear the sledding runs on Boston Common, Louise Border creates a believable boy, Henry, who's eager to enjoy his birthday present, a sled, and who summons up the courage to ask Gen. Thomas Gage's help. The children are aware of political tensions and yet are also children who want to have their world of play, at least, remain untouched. Robert Andrew Parker's watercolor, pen-and-ink sketches are extraordinary, using the brightness of the snow and a wintry blue sky in strong contrast to the massed reds of the British soldiers. Gage is interesting in the story, and an endnote adds more detail about him, making it impossible to demonize him.
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