A HOUSE BY THE SEA

In verse that echoes both Milne's whimsical make-believe and the cadence of Poe's ``Annabel Lee,'' a child imagines living by the sea: playing with the seals (``When I got too wet/or they got too dry,/we'd hug and we'd run/and we'd yell, `Good-bye' ''); wishing on the moon; being cared for by an octopus (``With an arm doing this/and an arm doing that,/he'd cook and make my bed''); and so on. The idea isn't exceptional, but it's nicely developed; Ryder's verse has a lovely, musical lilt, while Sweet's delicate watercolors show the child and his companion, in snapshot-sized vignettes, playing along the shore while their imaginary activities are displayed in bubble-like vistas, airily framed with sky and sea and extending across the spreads. An attractive addition. (Picture book. 3-8)