No Milk!

This energetic cumulative tale opens with a problem: ``A dairy cow. / A city boy. / A silver pail. / A wooden stool. / But no milk!'' What to do? The boy tries everything, from ``a pat on the head'' to a bit of prestidigitation and even a temper tantrum--all equally unsuccessful. Finally, ``A little pat? / A little squeeze? / A little tug? / Could it be? / Milk!'' In her debut, Ericsson comically delivers a refreshingly different message (saying ``please'' produces no more milk than being naughty): it's finding how that does the trick. Children will happily suspend their disbelief for such a rapid reinvention of milking techniques. In Eitan's first book for an American publisher, the Israeli illustrator matches the easy text with slapdash, childlike paintings in a style somewhat like Elizabeth Martland's for Solo Plus One. A lactic lark. Ages 3-up. (Mar.)