Reflections

Like her innovative black-and-white picture book Round Trip, this is an arresting and exciting exercise in imagination and graphic design. The story of one child's day in a small seaside town begins at dawn and includes encounters with morning fishermen, a trip to the seashore, boatyard, beach, the peach orchard and the birch grove. Since ""it's a little scary deep in the woods,'' readers are prompted to turn the book around ``and find . . . (the) way back'' home to bedbut not before many additional visual treats. In a few spreads the connection between image and narrative stretches credibility, but the overall effect is so vivid and striking that readers are quickly caught up again in the enticing circularity of Jonas's vision. Ages 5-8. (September)