Making Chocolate

These are 12-page, comb-bound, small-format, hand-lettered, fully illustrated, delightfully explicit step-by-step introductions to cooking. One recipe is provided per book (give or take some suggested variations). Best of all, the plastic-coated pages wipe clean with a paper towel. The back-cover small print for adults concedes that kids will need help with the oven, and certainly all results might benefit from supervision, but with every utensil, ingredient and measurement pictured, with arrows pointing from teaspoon to bowl and instructions like ""mix mix mix,'' youngsters can't go far wrong. Even the most difficult steppunching and folding the dough for pretzels or pizzacould be turned into unparalleled fun. (4-up)