WATERS

An introduction to water and water creatures in verse for preschoolers. A small brook joins a larger brook, the larger brook joins a river, the river leads to the sea—pleasantly familiar territory thus far. But in addition to the simple and sentimental (a small brook is called ``cunning'') text, Chase (New Baby Calf, 1991, not reviewed) provides several paragraphs of back matter about creatures—depicted in the illustrations—who live in and around the water. Those sharing the book with children have a handy resource of animal names for enlarging on the text in a discussion of the scenes. Broda has an unusual technique employing watercolor and paper sculpture—the scenes he creates are assembled and photographed rather like dioramas, and the crisp, intriguingly three-dimensional result makes the book stand out. (Picture book. 3-6)