The Child's Fairy Tale Book

In addition to the familiar tales about Cinderella, Snow White and Rapunzel, this companion volume to The Child's Story Book includes ``The Ants That Pushed on the Sky,'' a Native American story about a brave betrayed by his friend, and the East Indian ``Muchie Lal,'' about a young woman separated from her husband. While Chorao's art is perfectly suited to her collections for preschoolers ( The Baby's Story Book , The Baby's Bedtime Book ), her overly sweet renderings of these stories' darker elements are somewhat out of place. Perhaps she intends the illustrations to be an approximation of how a child might imagine herself as the heroine of a fairy tale, but even so, Cinderella's stepsister looks more peeved than wicked, and both Cinderella and Snow White appear so young that their marriages seem inappropriate. Ages 3-8. (Sept.)