Don't Forget to Write

This picture book offers a reassuring story for any child who is apprehensive about making a solo trip. Rosie feels just that way as she leaves to visit Grandad and Aunt Mabel on their farm. Through an endearingly rambling letter to her mother, reproduced alongside homey, full-page pictures depicting the activities about which she writes, readers can see Rosie gradually adjusting to being out of her natural element. Not surprisingly, she ends up having a grand time and finishes her letter: ``I don't want to come home yet.'' Kids probably won't notice that the illustrations clearly depict the English countryside rather than that of Vermont, where Grandad supposedly lives. More important are the story's reassuring message and its portrayal of the strength of a grandparent's hospitality and love, which is universal. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)