Time for Bed, Ned

Parents of toddlers who have outgrown their board books may pounce on this sunny pair of titles. Hope's minimalist dialogue is reminiscent of Dick and Jane but much livelier: ""I don't like shopping. I like hopping. Come on, Fred. Hop, hop, hop!'' ``Ned! Stop!'' (This last from a disgruntled father, trying to find a sweater for his boisterous lad.) Ned neatly delays going to bed in one book; in the other he resists a red sweater to the very last, settling on blue for himself and his dog, Fred. Denton's cheeky watercolors give these books a pell-mell pace and turn Ned's mayhem into good-natured mischief. (4-7)