KIDS EXTRA BOOKS

Adventures near and far: stories about playing pretend in the bathtub, rescuing wolves in the wilderness, and living in a South African tribe. AGES 6 MONTHS to 2 YEARS TO BABY WITH LOVE Jan Ormerod (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, $15) Five brief, lilting nursery rhymes, perfect for reading aloud. The celebrated British artist's paintings of perky dogs, curious babies, and quacking ducks radiate children's unfailing delight in their environment. A -Michele Landsberg

AGES 2 to 4 IS THAT JOSIE? Keiko Narahashi (Margaret K. McElderry, $14.95) Little Josie likes to pretend: It's not her making those waves in the bath, it's a dolphin; not her scarfing down the blueberry pie, but a hungry hippo. Tender | watercolors prove again that a child's wide world of make-believe starts at home. B+ -Leonard S. Marcus

AGES 4 to 8 SWAMP ANGEL Anne Isaacs; illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky (Dutton, $14.99) This rousing tall tale features a high-spirited heroine and a pesky bear she dubs the ''most wondrous heap of trouble I ever come to grips with.'' Their titanic wrestling match is a knockout; Zelinsky, an award-winning illustrator, is at his vibrant best. A+ -LSM

MY PAINTED HOUSE, MY FRIENDLY CHICKEN, AND ME Maya Angelou; photographs by Margaret Courtney-Clarke (Clarkson Potter, $16) Poet Angelou's impish narrative and Courtney-Clarke's ravishing photographs create an entrancing vision of an exuberant 8-year-old's daily life in South Africa's Ndebele tribe. This elegantly designed, heart-lifting picture book is an imaginative feast. A+ -ML

AGES 8 to 12 JULIE Jean Craighead George; illustrated by Wendell Minor (HarperCollins, $15) In the compelling sequel to 1972's Julie of the Wolves, an Eskimo teenager must use all of her wilderness skills to save a beloved pack of wolves from her father's gun. As a portrait of an intelligent young woman in a perplexing world, Julie is even more touching and complex than the first volume. A+ -ML

TELL THEM WE REMEMBER Susan D. Bachrach (Little, Brown, $10.95) This well-focused narrative with a generous sampling of chilling photographs from the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., offers young readers an exceptionally clear, dramatic chronicle of the Nazis' evil efforts. A -LSM