McCREPHY'S FIELD

After 24-year-old Joe McCrephy leaves his Ohio cornfield to go to Wyoming, nature takes over: weeds and field flowers replace the corn, attracting birds; then young trees begin to grow, providing cover for a different range of wildflowers and creatures. In time, a full-grown forest shelters deer and other woodland creatures for Joe to wonder at when he finally returns as an old man. The simple text, admirably species-specific, is much extended in Chartier's lovely watercolors, where landscapes and most flora are rendered impressionistically but the animals are carefully observed and precisely delineated. An unusually appealing look at change; try pairing it with the reverse approach, like Burton's The Little House (1942) or Baker's Window (p. 315). (Picture book. 4-10)*justify no*