LITTLE MO

Rainbow scarf around her neck, Little Mo (a polar bear) steps hopefully onto the ice, only to bump down hard. Four of her full-grown friends come to help, ``sliding and gliding'' and zooming her along, but the ``Big Ones'' get more and more rambunctious, bumping Little Mo until she decides she doesn't like the ice after all. After the Big Ones forget her and wander off, she tries once more to slide on her own, and finally learns to keep on her feet and twirl gracefully—``and Little Mo loved it.'' The disarmingly simple text is pleasantly flavored with deft internal rhymes, while Barton's adroitly sketched bears, repeated in vertical frames across a spread, are comically expressive. The winter landscape—icy blue beneath a peachy sunset—makes a serene counterpoint to the lively action. A delightful explication of a familiar maxim—''If at first you don't succeed...'' (Picture book. 2-7)