From Me to You

""I came headfirst into this world eighty years ago,'' a grandmother muses. In simple rhyming verse, she tells of her childhood and marriage, and the birth of her own child. At the end, she gives her listening granddaughter a handkerchief made of the lace that once decorated her own christening robea gesture that serves as a visible symbol of the continuity between generations, which is the unspoken theme of this quietly affecting tale. Rogers's text is straightforward, evocative and unsentimental, reminding readers that parents and grandparents were once young and full of mischief themselves. Johnson's delicate watercolors paint a warm picture of family life and provide illuminating details of bygone eras. Ages 4-7. (March)