New Friends, True Friends, Stuck-Like-Glue Friends

Kroll's (I Wanted to Know All About God) text and cartoon animator Rosely's art share perkiness aplenty, but neither extends the value of the other. The three-part rhymes don't lead anywhere: the statement ``Wriggly friends/ Squiggly friends/ Laughing and giggly friends'' accompanies a random scene of a school hallway, for instance. The brightly hued gouaches of multiracial children come from the simplicity school of cartooning, where large round heads top undersize, boxy bodies. The style is larky but perhaps not suited to the task: the Asian American children end up with slits for eyes, the African Americans list toward the beige end of the colored space. A slight offering. Ages 3-5. (Oct.)