I Like It When . . .

A cheerful little penguin enumerates the things he likes to do with his or her mother (or conceivably father) in this buoyant British import. Drenched in broad fields of reds, blues and greens, each spread shows the pair together, holding hands, playing peekaboo, splashing, dancing or kissing good night-all activities that get the flippers-up from the narrator. Other examples reinforce desirable behavior: in ""I like it when you let me help,"" the parent thanks the satisfied-looking helper, and in ""I like it when we eat new things,"" the child penguin looks happily expectant, utensils at the ready (no turning up his beak or dumping his fish on the floor here). First-time author Murphy's artwork achieves an expressive simplicity. The faces and the plump bodies of the penguins, though starkly simple, are remarkably animated. In one spread, a trio of drawings evokes the motion of the parent penguin picking up the child for a big hug; the book's endpapers echo this squeeze motif in a colorful checkerboard pattern. While penguins may evoke an icy climate, the loving and playful relationship between this penguin parent and child makes for an exceptionally warm little book. Ages 1-4. (Mar.)