Taxi! Taxi!

Tina and her mother share an apartment in a bustling, close-knit urban neighborhood where there's always something interesting to watch. Tina especially loves Sundays, the day her father, a taxi driver, comes to visit. Today's outing features a picnic at a farm in the country followed by an ``always room for one more'' taxi ride back home, scooping up Tina's neighbors along the way. Best, a fine storyteller, effortlessly weaves Spanish words and phrases into her lively tale (Tina is Latino). This is not a ``problem'' book; although Tina's sadness with her parents' separation is evident, the story focuses on the relationship between her and her father, a relationship that is both sweet and genuine. Stylistically, Gottlieb's vibrant, intensely colored illustrations might be classified as post-modern primitive; artistically, they both enlarge and enrich the tale. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)