MISS SPIDER'S TEA PARTY

The photo-clear, crayon-bright illustrations of a handsome gold-and-black spider and the sensible insects that fear accepting her invitation are sure to attract bookstore buyers, and this story/counting-book (two beetles, three fireflies, etc.) with its happy ending of insects cheerfully sharing tea and cupcakes at Miss Spider's table while she munches violets may be as harmless as the evidently fictional species (Kirk is ``the leading authority on the rare and beautiful Arachne Vulgaris Florivora,'' confides the jacket). Still, basing a story on behavior totally at odds with a real animal's nature seems wrongheaded (Beatrix Potter never did it); and though the art here is arresting, the doggerel verse (``We would be fools to take our tea/With anyone so spidery'') hasn't enough merit to outweigh the flawed premise. (Picture book. 4-8)