PLANE SONG

Siebert (whose previous songs of praise include, most notably, Heartland, 1989) brings her rather clumsy lyrical style to aircraft and their flight ``above a world of/tundras/trees/fields and farmlands/cities/seas/humming/coming/through the day/toward horizons far away.'' In phrases ranging from doggerel and pre- primerese (``hear their engines!/see them fly!'') to straight nonfiction, she surveys many kinds and uses of planes, big and small, civilian and military. The words, in a handsome bold sans- serif, black or white, are superimposed on Nasta's sweeping double-spread paintings, which—even more tellingly—evoke the vast sky, towering clouds, twinkling lights of a city seen from the air, and the various aircraft. Overall, an appealing book, celebrating its subject as intended; though the persistent rhymes and rhythm don't help much, they don't hurt, either. (Nonfiction/Picture book. 4-8)