Pink, Red, Blue, What Are You?

Breezy is the order of the day, as Kvasnosky makes easy work of color and number identification for the youngest bibliophiles. These board books' sketchy illustrations exude energy, while their short and snappy couplets roll trippingly off the tongue for painless learning. In Pink , a spry creature cast identify themselves via skin tones--a pair of toothy crocs (``We're green. We're mean''), dancing pigs (``We're pink. We stink''), acrobatic mice (We're gray. We play''). A multiracial gaggle of children in One, Two caper through a meadow (``We're four. We explore''), in a swimming pool (``We're five. We dive'') and down a winding path (``We're eight. We skate''). The vocabulary proves up-to-date--yellow ducks are ``mellow,'' a boy and girl ``boogaloo''--and, realistically, all is not sweetness and light: ``We're nine. We whine,'' say the kids, and three grumpy bears declare, ``We're brown. We frown.'' Simple, fun and effective. Ages 1-3. (May)