Chat Noisy Cow

Each of these board books is attached to a cardboard box, and inside each box is a device that ""baas,'' ``waas,'' ``moos'' or ``quacks. '' Unfortunately, the boxes are unwieldly and badly balanced for small hands. The lamb and cow do sound like their namesakes, which should delight youngsters, but the baby and duck emit only differently pitched whines, which may grow irritating after repeated uses. The stories are minor: the bashful lamb won't baa, Paddy the duck learns to quack, the noisy cow moos too loudly and the wailing baby won't pipe down until sleep overtakes him. The novelty wears off quickly, for this is a book built around a toy, and not very successfully. Ages 6 months-up. (February)