A guide for children and parents to the latest releases.

Parents and children wrote in with these favorites:

"A book we enjoy is Verna Aardema's 'Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain.' This folk tale reflects some of the beliefs and rituals of African-Americans. The story describes how a young boy named Ka-pat pierces a rain cloud with an eagle's feather to bring down the rain to Kapiti Plain. We love this book because of the predictable text and rhyme. "

-- Dr. Ruth N. Agwuna,

mother and pediatrician in Columbia

"At first glance, 'The Runaway Bunny' by Margaret Wise Brown appears to be a hide-and-seek game between a little bunny and his mother. For example, the little bunny wants to run away to the sea to become a fish. The mother bunny responds that she will then become a fisherman and catch and hug her child.

"Reading this book to my children has affirmed my steadfast love for them."

-- Helen Liu,

mother and accountant in Columbia

"Among my favorite bedtime stories are Rudyard Kipling's cherished myths from 'Just So' stories of how the elephant's child got his trunk on the banks of the great Grey-Green, Greasy Limpopo River. And how the rhinoceros got his saggy, baggy skin and very bad temper. These and Kipling's other strange and magical tales have found their way into the hearts and minds of children since the turn of the tury."

-- Bette Miller, grandmother of six in Baltimore

"A gifted storyteller is one who keeps the audience 'begging for more.' Frank Peretti in 'The Cooper Kids Adventure Series' is such a storyteller.

"From book one to book seven, my children pleaded, 'Just one more chapter, please?' Cooper, an archaeologist, and his two children are constantly on digs ... for the truth. Their adventures take them trekking through treacherous jungles, scaling caves and rummaging ruins. The Coopers face personal issues of loyalty, courage, love and faith. In these stories, commendable character qualities are camouflaged by pulse-heightening adventure. Wow!"

-- Patricia Napolitano,

home-schooling mother in Annapolis

"I recommend 'Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs' by Judith Barrett. In a town called Chewandswallow, they didn't have supermarkets, so food fell from the sky! Soon, too much food fell and the people had to move away.

"At the end, the people came to a new world. Everyone got used to supermarkets."

-- Chayla Fleming

Wellwood International Elementary

"Open the book and take a look. This book, 'Voyage on the Great Titanic' by Ellen Emerson White, is the diary of Margaret Ann Brady.

"The captain said the ship will not sink but it did. The ship sank when it hit the iceberg. In this book, there are lots of adventures."

-- Doug Williams

Runnymede Elementary

Pub Date: 03/07/99