WHERE DO LITTLE GIRLS GROW?

In playful, affectionate verse, a child suggests imaginative places she might have come from (``Maybe I grew on an apple tree'') and her mother responds (``Then I climbed to pick you just for me''). Finally, the little girl says, ``Tell me again where I REALLY and TRULY grew,'' and the mother answers with a lyrical but basically informative description (``I could feel you turning, nudging and bumping. Then you were born, like a glad sunrise—''). The poetry is sometimes awkwardly phrased but has an engaging warmth. Most interesting are Hoffman's mannered, allusive illustrations—strongly decorative, with elements of the surreal, they're filled with visual metaphors for nurturing and giving birth. Animals, especially cats and frogs, and their young abound, as do cozily rounded containers—bathtub, waterlily blossom, nest. A creative, intriguing look at the wonder of birth. (Picture book. 3-7)