Crimson Ribbon

A girl's daydream is the familiar but felicitously handled theme of Hippely's first picture book. Mom invites Nell to poke around in the old green trunk in the attic one gray November afternoon, and when Nell finds a handful of hair ribbons, Mom describes the aunts who gave them to her during her own girlhood. Snow falls as Nell, in her attic windowseat, studies the vacant house across the street and wishes she had ``nice old aunts.'' Her wish comes true as she magically visits the house, now cozily furnished with objects from Nell's own home. Readers must decide whether Nell's adventure is real or a fantasy; grounds for either choice are provided in the text (the ``aunts'' give Nell a crimson ribbon, which, when Mom calls her, is ``a little wet from the snow'') and, more deftly, in Stammen's (Wild Fox) unusually warm pastels, which encourage close and careful examination. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)