ME & YOU

A Mother-Daughter Album.

Written and illustrated by Lisa Thiesing.

Unpaged. New York:

Hyperion Books for Children. $14.95.

(Ages 2 to 5)

WITHOUT WINGS, MOTHER, HOW CAN I FLY?

By Norma Farber.

Illustrated by Keiko Narahashi.

32 pp. New York:

Henry Holt & Company. $15.95.

(Ages 3 to 7)

DAUGHTER, HAVE I TOLD YOU?

By Rachel Coyne.

Illustrated by Virginia Halstead.

Unpaged. New York:

Henry Holt & Company. $15.95.

(Ages 3 to 5)

Young children never tire of reading books about themselves and the world they inhabit, and authors and illustrators never tire of providing them. But, as the saying goes, many are called but few are chosen, inspire or endure. Historically, there has been a strong tradition of absentee parents even in books for very young children. ''Madeline,'' ''The Cat in the Hat,'' ''Where the Wild Things Are,'' ''Curious George'' and ''The Story of Babar'' are well-known examples. In books like these, the parents must be out of the way so that the adventures can begin and the young protagonists can demonstrate the qualities of resourcefulness and pluck that will endear them to their readers.

There is another and opposite tradition -- as seen in Margaret Wise Brown's ''Runaway Bunny,'' for example -- in which parents, especially mothers, are seen as all-knowing and omnipresent. In this trio of picture books, each of them a variation on the central importance of Mom -- and, coincidentally, published more or less for Mother's Day -- two lack the hallmark simplicity and accessibility of the best picture books for the very young.

''Me & You: A Mother-Daughter Album,'' written and illustrated by Lisa Thiesing, is a look at a two-generation photo album that a young mother is sharing with her daughter while she compares her child's life with her own experiences as a girl. There is great charm in the photographic-style watercolor illustrations, which are arranged on the page like snapshots, in black and white for the older generation and in full color for today. They capture perfectly the differences these 30 years have made: the 60's-era parents are formally attired, with pearls on moms and neckties on dads, while the contemporary parents are bearded and overalled.

But certain aspects of family life are perennial, and they are here, too: messy highchairs, Halloween costumes and other enduring witnesses to the overwhelming love parents feel for their children.

Some parents pride themselves on having all the answers, and the mother in ''Without Wings, Mother, How Can I Fly?,'' by Norma Farber, certainly belongs in that category. She even phrases her answers to rhyme with her child's questions. The questions all involve skills that animals perform easily and naturally, and some of them are real stumpers, like ''How can I spin a web, without a spider's thread?'' But this mom gamely comes up with ''Try catching moths with a net of gauze, instead.''

She has an answer for every question, no matter how wacky, but I doubt that the exchanges are realistic or satisfying enough for most young children, who are usually quite literal-minded. The watercolor illustrations by Keiko Narahashi are soft and lovely, and the book is well designed, with questions on the left-hand pages and answers on the right; but too much of the time the poetic text seems to be straining.

It is hard to imagine a young child who would enjoy ''Daughter, Have I Told You?,'' a lyrical but extremely abstract poem by Rachel Coyne that begins: ''Daughter, have I told you? You are of women whose words are wildflowers.'' Not only is the text difficult to parse, even for an adult reader, but the pastel illustrations by Virginia Halstead could be downright disturbing to a young child: disembodied three-toed feet with bright red nail polish; human hands, young and old, but never with more than four fingers; oversize female bodies made to look like landscapes, lakes, trees, mountains. I suppose the idea behind the poem is to empower young girls by making them feel like part of a continuum of strong, natural women. But to feel empowered, mustn't one understand what on earth is going on?

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