ELSE-MARIE AND HER SEVEN LITTLE DADDIES

A whimsical Swedish import with a unique premise: Else-Marie has not one but seven identical pint-size daddies who all go to work together, briefcases in hand, read to her at night, and do all the other things daddies do. As long as she's at home with them, Else-Marie finds this perfectly satisfactory; but when Mom has to work overtime so that the daddies are delegated to pick her up at playgroup, Else-Marie suddenly sees her unusual parents as she imagines others will, and is filled with anxiety: Will the daddies be chased by a neighbor's dog? Will they embarrass her in front of her friends? No problem, it turns out: the other children accept the daddies with careless aplomb. Lindenbaum's auspicious debut story, realistic except for the remarkable daddies, is developed with logic and good humor and told in a dry, straightforward, amusing style. Even better are her lively illustrations, in which the unusual family is realized in comical detail; the daddies, like an orderly Cub Scout troop, are delightful. Adults who couldn't accept Stuart Little may worry about Mom; for anyone else, an offbeat treat. (Picture book. 4-8)