Vera Runs Away

Previously met in When Vera Was Sick and Vera's First Day of School, Vera Rosenberry's picture-book namesake reappears in Vera Runs Away. This time Vera has gotten straight As on her first-grade report card, but her parents are busy with a household emergency and her older sisters aren't impressed. Rosenberry gets all the details just right, from Vera's fantasy of the family that would truly appreciate her to her parents' balanced sympathy in the end: ""We're so sorry we didn't pay enough attention,"" her mother says. ""But when you do well, you are doing well for yourself."" (Holt, $16 ages 4-7 ISBN 0-8050-6267-X; Nov.)