A WINTER WALK

Barasch's second is a marked contrast to the whimsically clever plotting of her debut book, Rodney's Inside Story (1992): on a gray day, Sophie's mom takes her outdoors to ``find the color of winter'': the red of berries still clinging to trees, the fields' ``rust...and yellow...lavender...and gold,'' the brook's blue, a rabbit's brown eyes, and, at the end of their walk, the white of falling snow. The simple text is nicely visualized in Barasch's double-spread watercolors, where the gentle colors and somber contrasts that give a winter's day in the country its subtle, rich bloom are carefully balanced and brought together. A quiet book with special appeal for the observant child. (Picture book. 4-8)