MY MAP BOOK

Fanelli's first book uses a map analogy to explore the varied facets of a child's life. Thus the cartographic motif extends to the subject's neighborhood, face, family, dog, tummy, heartany location with a promising artistic geography. Each spread is one map; the only words are labels and terse captions. The imitation of a child's style, with purposefully sloppy collage techniques and outside-the-lines drawing, makes the book intimate and spontaneous. Fanelli's color schemes are audacious, and her shapes and scale telling: ``my house,'' and ``my playground'' are roughly the same size. There will be some readers who will find the childlike devices too successful; the pages are overwhelmingly busy, strongly subjective, and don't have conventional clarity and focus. Each individual map draws the eye to it for repeated study; exploring this book is like entering a wilderness without a compass. For the artistically intrepid, it's a trip worth taking. (Picture book. 5-8.)