Anna Marie's Blanket

Anna Marie is growing up: she's starting nursery school soon, and has to leave behind her beloved blanket. No ordinary bed-covering, this anthropomorphized character has been an exemplary playmate and guardian. Now the blanket is hurt and insulted at being phased out of the girl's life; with an unfortunate lack of understanding, ``it folded itself into a neat square and refused to speak.'' Anna Marie still professes to love her blanket--though its petulance and moodiness seem to outweigh any possible appeal it might have--and presents a solution that offers it new responsibilities. Although the separation depicted is a common and potentially painful one, there must be warmer, gentler approaches than Barkan's rather pedantic narrative. Maze's pleasantly straightforward paintings possess a certain blandness that only reinforces this ultimately flat story. Ages 3-6. (Mar.)