EVERY MONDAY IN THE MAILBOX

First-grader Melinda, who lives with her mother, reluctantly says goodbye to a grandmotherly neighbor, Mrs. Wilcox, who's moving to a nursing home. Mrs. Wilcox promises Melinda a surprise in the mailbox every Monday, and her cheerful cards and letters become the eagerly anticipated focus of Melinda's week. Although there is no hint that Mrs. Wilcox is seriously ill, their correspondence is to be short-lived; before Melinda can learn her letters to write back, Mrs. Wilcox dies in her sleep. Grief hurts more than a ``sprained wrist,'' but eventually Melinda hits on a palliativewriting to Mrs. Wilcox's nursing home friend, Mrs. Mingo. Fox's first book is full of good intentions, but the story is glib, and moves awkwardly through some flashbacks and preamble before it is really launched. The pictures have an oversweetened, artificial quality, but Melinda's natural exuberance comes through on every spread. (Picture book. 4-6)