THE FARM SUMMER 1942

The noted poet and author of Ox-Cart Man describes a nine- year-old's summer on his grandparents' New Hampshire farm while his dad's in the South Pacific and his mother works ``on a secret project...for the war effort.'' Peter flies across the country but ends his journey in a buggy; Hall rounds out an evocatively detailed description of traditional farm life with Peter's reunion with Dad back home in San Francisco. But the chief glory of this beautifully crafted book is Moser's watercolor art, in which the details—from the sun glancing off Peter's freshly ironed shirt to the contrast between the military bearing of a newel post and the more relaxed stance of the uniformed father as he welcomes his son—are statements of pure design as well as singularly pleasing depictions of the warm relationships, wholesome setting, and exquisitely observed farm animals. Nostalgia at its best. (Picture book. 5-10)