MELANIE JANE

Bright colors and winsome illustrations cannot sweeten this didactic rhyming tale from two picture-book newcomers. Melanie Jane holds her breath and throws ``both her shoes down the hall'' because her mother cannot change the color of the sky from blue to red. A child who has never heard the word no, Melanie flies out of her chair in a rage and lands on a cloud, vowing she'll never come down. Pleading by her parents, teacher, doctors, and police is to no avail. Finally, her parents give up, going on ``to something less stressful.'' Thus ignored, Melanie floats down, deciding the sky is just fine as it is. ``And now Melanie knows,/And you, too, I suppose,/That you can't always have your own way.'' While Melanie behaves like a two-year-old, she looks and speaks like an older child. For actual silliness and less moralistic fervor, stick with Stieg's Spinky Sulks (1988). (Picture book. 3-6)