AMERICA

Seriously flawed as a concept book, this picture book offers rewards for readers interested in its specific merits. Nikola- Lisa (Tangletalk, p. 646, etc.) presents a pair of phrases for illustration in double-page spreads: ``Wood Land/Farm Land/Wet Land/Dry Land/Rough Land/Smooth Land.'' Each of the 14 spreads is illustrated by a different artist. Therefore, there is not only a different style and medium for each, but a different way of looking at the definition of land: ``Wet Land,'' for example, shows a family in a rowboat amid a few marsh grasses. The grasses and a nearby flamingo convey some sense of a wetland, but then why is the phrase rigidly two words? ``Low Land/High Land'' has in its background the suggestion of tiered hills, but there is a giant fish in the foreground of ``High Land.'' Ice appears as ``Smooth Land.'' This isn't a book for children as much as a showcase for several talented artists, among them Gregory Christie, Hector Viveros Lee, Erwin Printup, Jr., Enrique O. Sanchez, Yoriko It, and Huy Lee. To that end, an ``About the Art'' page includes photos of and quotations by the artists and information on their techniques and published works. (Picture book. 5-9)