An Adventure in the Amazon

Unlike other recent books about the rain forest, this one focuses on the people who live successfully and undemandingly in our planet's richest--and most endangered--habitat. ``The environment is their grocery store, pharmacy, clothes store, hardware store and pet shop. The necessities are available all the time and don't cost money.'' The clear, straightforward text takes readers out of their contemporary surroundings and gently connects them to the rich lives of Amazon children who paint their faces, fish to feed their families, care for pets, weave baskets and gain an astonishing knowledge of their environment. Youngsters will identify with some bits of rain-forest culture (the yucca root, which tastes like French fries) and recoil at others (the traditional masato drink, made when Ashaninca women and children ``chew a vegetable called manioc, then spit it into pots and mix it with yams, turning it purple''). A bold, magazine-style layout with large photographs energizes the sometimes textbookish language. Three type sizes divide information into strands (headlines, main texts and photo captions), thus broadening the degree of sophistication and age interest. Ages 8-12. ( Apr . )