Busy Lizzie

Lizzie and her energetic calico cat meander through a full day of activities in this deceptively simple picture-book introduction to basic body parts. Straightforward sentences (``Busy Lizzie has two feet'') name an area of her anatomy while subsequent spreads then illustrate its function (``Kick your feet, Lizzie'' captions a picture of the child on a swing, legs and feet happily airborne). Berry's (Old MacDonald Had a Farm) spunky colored-pencil-and-watercolor artwork makes even the daily rituals of eating lunch and getting ready for bed look like lots of fun. An interesting design element keeps the focus on the protagonist by never showing her parents' faces; readers see only portions of the adults' bodies in various scenes. The palette here is pleasingly balanced between bright and earthy tones, and Lizzie's unruly shock of auburn hair is the centerpiece of nearly every page. Ages 2-5. (Oct.)