AN EDIBLE ALPHABET

Christensen makes a handsome debut with wood engravings that recall the woodcuts of fellow-Vermonter Mary Azarian (A Farmer's Alphabet, 1981, o.p.). With admirable skill, the artist depicts children and their parents harvesting or using wild and cultivated produce in a wide variety of settings—indoors and out, northern and tropical, city and country. Most of the featured plants are familiar; all, including a few exotics (ipomea, ulu, xanthorhiza), are briefly described at the end. But it's the air of well-being that infuses these prints that draws attention and, ultimately, the delicately incised lines, sure sense of design, and subtly added color that delight. (Picture book. 4-8)