River

Less effective than Atwell's similarly themed Barn, this eco-fable features well-wrought paintings but serves up clich s. ""In the beginning there was the river. Trees grew. Fish grew big. And one by one, the animals came to drink the water,"" opens the narrative, often stilted in its emulation of a biblical tone. A person arrives in a canoe--""He knew the river was good,"" reads text opposite a painting of a Native American hunter, his head bowed in acknowledgment of a fine sunset. Yet ""the first people had to leave to find peace"" once white settlers appeared. Balancing elements of Impressionism and folk art, Atwell's appealing paintings reveal both the river and sky darkening as factory stacks spew smoke into the air, motorcyclists speed along the riverbank and trash bobs in the water (""The animals no longer came to drink. The fish disappeared. There were too many needs""). Then, ""people remembered how it had been,"" and tear down some of the factories and plant trees because they (cryptically) ""wanted to share."" The message is simplistic and the delivery predictable; the tug-of-war between man and nature is rendered more credibly in Atwell's artwork than in her words. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)