PATCHWORK ISLAND

Inspired by the bright textures and patterns of the landscape on Canada's Prince Edward Island, Kuskin pens a brief poem about a mother capturing its visual effect in a quilt for her baby, who can enjoy playing on the completed needlework scene and also sleep under it: ``These island nights can grow quite cool.'' Mathers's saturated colors and clean compositions are particularly appropriate to the subject; the interplay between geometric forms and fabric patterns that at some times literally represent landscape features and at others cleverly imitate them (e.g., in a patchwork of cultivated fields) is delightful. A charming tribute, as well as a fine reminder that such a patchwork of familiar forms and intense colors makes an enriching landscape for any infant. (Picture book. 2-7)