Aunt Belle's Beach

Wunsch ( Spaceship Number Four ), hazarding that almost everyone has a flamboyant relative, here introduces a woman whose bossiness turns a seaside romp into an embarrassing event for her niece. Her picture book, however, concentrates on the young heroine's discomfort, and its inexpert illustrations only aggravate its harsh quality. When Rosa and her Aunt Belle go to the beach, Belle just can't mind her own beeswax. She instructs a boy to throw away a candy wrapper, reminds complete strangers to use sunscreen and interrupts a lifeguard's swimming lesson to show the students how to float on their backs (the guard is not amused). Niece Rosa rolls her eyes in mortification but soon learns that attention-getting behavior can come in handy; after she hears the cries of a little boy looking for his mother, Rosa takes a cue from Belle and shouts into a megaphone to hail the missing mom. Belle is portrayed with a mischievous-bordering-on-maniacal gleam in her ever-watchful eyes and a tight grin on her red-lipsticked mouth. Rosa cowers ashamedly in nearly every spread and feels happy only after she's buried the ``snoring'' Belle up to her neck in sand. This trip to the beach is no picnic, for Rosa or for readers. Ages 5-up. (May)