DEAR WORLD

Intricate, multidimensional cut-paper collages outshine disingenuously childlike poems in this picture book debut. Each poem addresses its subject directly, in the second person; for example, "Dear Fish" includes the lines "you are/ red/ I am/ red/ everything is/ red/ in the sunset/ it is magic/ I wish you a magical swim." The sophisticated riffs on the color red in the accompanying illustration—a sunset view of a canal or river lined with small houses—stand in contrast to the flatness of the text's repetition. Like the other collages, it is full of texture, shadows and complicated designs. Colors are subtly shaded, images overlap and some appear to float within separate picture planes. Yet, whether the illustrations depict angry thunder and lightning or the sadness of a child lamenting a lost turtle, the art looks uniformly cheerful. Birds perch on clouds, golden-haired angels fly amid falling snow ("Dear Snow/ I see you/ spinning and dancing/ just like angels in white/ I know/ you want me to make/ a tall fat snowman") and heart-shaped trees flutter under a heart-shaped moon (in "Dear Valentines," the narrator has eaten a box of heart-shaped chocolates "by mistake" just before bedtime). The twinkling eyes, hearts, flowers and happy rainbows suggest an overly simplistic world. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)