Green Tales

In the publisher's inaugural children's book, Tanaka retells eight tales from around the world, many of them about Creation. She pairs each with stylized illustrations reflecting the culture from which the story came. The collection is uneven-a rendition of ``The Sowers,'' from India, has particular grace, but the next entry, an overlong and complicated Maori tale, shatters the mood. The final selection, from China, won't export easily: it features a goddess of mercy who descends to earth, changing grass into rice plants by pressing her breast over each stalk, squeezing out milk and, finally, blood (hence there is white rice and red rice). The volume cries out for source notes or some other means of amplification; for example, the title of the Viking tale ``Yggdrasil'' is never explained, not is its meaning clear from the context. The pictures, however, are beautifully choreographed between full page and footing elements that sometimes splash into the line-boxed text, and they continue to enthrall. Ages 6-up. (Sept.)