Everyday Town

The titles of these five board books may be unintentionally self-descriptive; Rylant offers rather quotidian glimpses of people, things and settings familiar to very young children. The volumes contain six spreads, each of which illustrates four lines of verse. The opening pages of the first title introduce a faceless trio of little folk: ``The Everyday Children wear bright blue boots / and slickers and dance in the rain. / They love puppies and kittens and hamsters in wheels. / They love dolls and long green trains.'' The rest of this text and those of the subsequent volumes are equally sing-song and banal. Only slightly more memorable is Rylant's collage-like art, consisting of basic shapes and a perky range of colors, but this work, too, lacks originality and flair. Ages 1-5. (Aug.)