The Paddock: A Story in Paradis

In this hymn to the resilience and dominance of the land, Norman traces the history of her native Australian ground and suggests its future. From lava flow and cooling rock to the breaking and drifting of continents to prehistoric life, the poetic (though occasionally fulsome) text whisks readers beyond the hairbreadth slice of human time into the grand proportions of geologic time. ``And then, it seems only a few minutes ago in all that long time, people came''--with the people come ``new rocks and lava of cement and brick and asphalt'' that sour the sweet soil lying underneath. By tying the text to Australian particulars and by employing the blunt title word (meaning an ordinary patch of land) the author anchors the mysticism of her message--though her dense imagery will likely be beyond the book's intended audience. Roennfeldt's paintings, each occupying three-fourths of a spread, follow the progression of history with increasing light and definition. They move from dreamlike awe through the primitive innocence of nature to the metallic shine and hard edge of civilization. An ambitious if somewhat abstruse undertaking. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)