Boot Weather

`` When Kim's father comes in and shouts, `Boot weather!' Kim can step into her favorite boots and go anywhere she likes''at least, in her imagination. Kim never actually leaves the backyard, but her adventures are depicted in paired illustrations: one of her real activities and the other of her imagined actions. A climb up the slide's ladder becomes a trip up a steep mountain; a piece of playground equipment becomes a tunnel full of lost treasures; a leap across a patch of ice turns her into a skilled hockey player. The last imagined journey is behind Santa in his sleigh, and the book's simple text states: ``In boot weather Kim can go anywhere at all . . . and still be home for lunch.'' Text and art combine for a flowing, unified telling; Vigna's lively book delivers a truthful account of the ways in which children play. Ages 3-7. (Feb.)