CARL GOES TO DAYCARE

The latest in this popular series about an appealing Rottweiler who takes responsibility for a tiny child in her mother's absence has more of a plot than its predecessors. While her mother says goodbye to the teacher outside, the moppet drags her pull toy into the daycare center, accidentally catching the doorstop and locking the teacher out. Then, while the teacher tries vainly to get back in (as seen through a window and in vignettes), Carl follows the lesson plan on a bulletin board, averts an accident by catching the water cooler just before it topples, and stops a fan that's disrupting the day's art project, strewing paper flowers. Finally, the teacher holds up a sign- -``Carl, open the door''—and he does. There's lots to discover in the kids' freely rendered shenanigans, and it's nice to have literacy save the day (though speech would surely have been as efficacious here). Another charmer, with more substance this time. (Picture book. 3-6)