ELECTRA AND THE CHARLOTTE RUSSE

A funny tale to which most readers will relate, that gets off to a great start and then trails off, though realistically. Electra is sent to the bakery by her mother to collect six charlotte russes for company. Careful though Electra is, she trips, and three of the pastries are damaged. What follows are her attempts, by smoothing, licking, lapping, and shaping, to make all six look the same. One look at the now-naked pastry and Mama asks ``Electra, what happened to the whipped cream?'' ``I don't think they're making them with cream anymore'' is the less- than-artful dodge. Mama holds her tongue and Electra holds her belly, where an ache is starting to grow. After tea, Electra's mother guesses at her child's distress and delivers a kindly lesson about honest mistakes. Garland conjures a 1920s city setting in electronic art that is most notable for how indistinct it is from conventional illustration. A real problem is the pacing of the words and art: Some pages are heavy with text, others have only a line or two, and the text of the last scene is separated from its illustration by a full-page close-up of a parrot. (Picture book. 7-9)