THE GIRL WHO LOVED CATERPILLARS

A 12th-century Japanese story, adapted from three credited translations, about a young woman of respectable rank who defies convention by refusing to pluck her eyebrows or blacken her teeth; more significantly—unlike ``the Perfect Lady'' next door, who collects butterflies and flowers—she's fascinated by small creatures like insects and frogs. Ragged boys who bring her insects are Izumi's friends. She also has an admirer who values her true worth; he sends her an ingenious mechanical snake, and they exchange some subtle verse, but he goes on his way, ``amused and wondering.'' Perhaps, Merrill suggests, what followed has been lost. What remains is an intriguing glimpse of an independent-minded woman, deplored but not thwarted by her family. Merrill's adaptation is dignified and energetic, with touches of humor. Cooper's three-quarter-spread paintings (the text is nicely accommodated at one side) feature subtle, beautifully modeled portraits and exquisite fabrics against impressionistic, elegantly composed backgrounds in glowing, mellow earth tones. A lovely, unusual book. (Fiction/Picture book. 6+)