EACH LIVING THING

Ryder's rhyming call reminds us to be aware of all living things and to treat them with respect and care. Some things are good to recycle: the bottles in the recycling bin that's carried through mud puddles by a young girl smiling at roadside robins and apple blossoms. Other things should be left as they are: spiders, snakes, and toads crossing the road, as well as the worms, snails, bees, and ants met by a young boy while gardening. As the season and characters change, autumn colors underscore smoke rising from the chimney of a mountain-country house as bears linger in the dusk. At night, owls hoot and hunt, bats flit, and cougars prowl unseen. Another change of characters brings readers to the seashore or to a park in Wolff's (Some Things Go Together, 1999) attractive, full-spread, full-bleed, black gesso and gouache illustrations. Her scenes making evident the variety of life in every environment. "Be aware of them," concludes the text. "Take care of them. Be watchful. Let them be." An idyllic but responsibly conscious view of nature in a book as rich visually as it is textually spare. (Picture book. 3-7)