YOUNG JOHN QUINCY

``Johnny's'' father is away at the Constitutional Congress when this book opens; it will be another year before the Declaration of Independence is written. Meanwhile, his mother- -Abigail Adams—keeps the family together at their farm and, later, in Boston. Many details of art and text don't match here: a scene said to be in a ``red sunset'' appears in full daylight; a starry summer scene occupies half a spread, opposite a snowy page, and the intended blending effect is confusing; the family is all but offstage in a scene in which Ma ``drove the wagon'' while the text mentions them sitting around a table discussing the trip. Notes, maps, diagrams and bibliography provide further context, but—as she did with Three Young Pilgrims (1992)— Harness makes historical incidents nearly incomprehensible by densely packing her pages with name- and event-dropping. (Picture book. 6-9)