BILLY AND BELLE

Today Belle is going to school with big brother Billy for the first time, because Dad (who is black) is taking ``Mom'' (blond) to the hospital: a new baby is coming. It's an exciting day—while trying to find the spider she adopted when she discovered it was ``pet day,'' Belle inadvertently releases all the other pets (tortoise, mouse, caterpillar, etc.), but they're soon found. Home again, after ``tea'' (spaghetti), Dad fetches Mom and baby Adam (the same day). It's good to have a new-baby book that focuses on the drama of the older children's activities. Garland's pleasantly informal illustrations—in varied spreads and frames with the dialogue in comic-strip balloons—nicely convey the family's warmth and the school's lively clutter. But: it's an obviously British book with universal appeal, and multicultural is in—so why these clumsy efforts to deny the authentic setting? (Picture book. 4-8)