If I Were Queen of the World

The narrator of this slight if genial debut children's book by Washington Post journalist and adult novelist Hiatt is an independent-minded girl whose wish list is, for the most part, quite tame. As queen of the world, she'd have her own desk and her own dog, stay up as late as she wanted and play beautiful music on the piano ""even if I never practiced again."" In a more fanciful vein, she aspires to consume 100 lollipops a day and fly through the air, surveying her fields and woods and castles. In each scenario, the would-be monarch is willing to share her royal privileges with her doting younger brother--up to a point. The childlike sensibility of her concessions (the toddler receives but ""a lick or two"" of lollipop; he can occasionally pretend he's king, but ""NEVER of the whole wide world"") keeps the narrative from becoming too cloying. A soft focus and misty backgrounds give Graham's (Home by Five) oil paintings a fittingly dreamlike quality, and he adds a bit of oomph to the static story line by alternating domestic backdrops with glimpses of palace architecture. Yet the images of the siblings are curiously inconsistent; while some likenesses are clearly defined and readily convey personality, others are sketchy and remote. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)