Rain

""It was hot,"" announces Stojic in big, bold type at the opening of her handsome debut book. Indeed, the scorching savanna temperatures radiate from her abstract compositions, and the cracked soil and yellowed grasslands glow as if ignited by the sun. But the animals know that this weather cannot last forever: they variously smell, hear, see, feel or taste the approach of rain. The rain, greatly savored, eventually stops, but the animals continue to appreciate it: ""We can't hear the rain now,"" shout the baboons, ""but we can eat fresh, juicy fruit from the trees."" The language is only serviceable, but the freshness of the art compensates. Stojic brings a deliciously heightened sensuality to her interpretation of savanna life. Tightly and often unconventionally framing her full-bleed, double-page spreads, she approximates a range of sensations, from the pleasure of the downpour (visualized as a spread of broad blue brush strokes) t0 the cozy ooze of the rhino's chocolate-colored mud hole to the mouthwatering lusciousness of the baboons' orange fruit. Ages 3-6. (May)