DAWN

Shulevitz' deep-blue, oval watercolors draw you into the still, quiet spot "under a tree by the lake" where "an old man and his grandson cuff up in their blankets." Gradually, as dawn approaches, the blues become lighter and the forms more distinct. Slowly the moonlit lake shivers, and "vapors start to rise." The man and boy get up, light a fire for breakfast, and roll up their blankets. As they move off in their rowboat, "suddenly the mountain and the lake are green" and the hushed, misty scenes give way to one double-page abstraction of the spectral response to sunrise that recalls Marvell's "annihilating all that's made/ To a green thought in a green shade." Perhaps not every child will be receptive to this lovely impressionistic book, but on the other hand it is hard not to be enveloped by Shulevitz' mood of muted serenity.