The story of how the Exodus from Egypt begins for the very young.Ever so carefully, a mother casts off her baby, carefully wrapped in a blanket, in a basket. Fish swim around Baby Moses. An ibis lands close by and frees the basket that has become entangled in reeds. The tiny hamper keeps floating on the busy river Nile, past boats and attentive hippos. Mighty Crocodile shelters it in a storm. Finally, the pharaoh's daughter gently picks up the baby and holds him close. The story of the infant Moses is, of course, the beginning of the tale of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt. Families familiar with the opening lines of Exodus, Chapter 2, may welcome this account, told in rhyming quatrains, as part of the holiday celebration of Passover. There is no note or afterword that provides a credit or context, which could cause confusion or even concern to some readers. Moses is named from the beginning rather than by the pharaoh's daughter, who plucks him from the Nile at the end, which will disorient readers who know the story and mislead those who don't. The full-bleed watercolor illustrations depict a lush and detailed setting of flowers, butterflies, and fish, and they captivate in a way the text does not. Even the crocodile, with its tail wrapped protectively around the basket, manages to appear comforting. Moses, his mother, and the pharaoh's daughter all have brown skin.Sweet and pretty-but limited in its audience appeal. (Picture book. 3-6)

This book-s wordless opening spread offers a moment of intense drama: a woman looks anxiously over her shoulder while extending her arm toward a basketed infant carried away on a river. But as Moses floats toward yet-unknown safety, Yacowitz-s gently rolling rhymes and Downing-s inventively framed watercolors-rendered in washes of emerald, citrine, and lapis-he enters a world far more benevolent than what he faced on shore. An ibis nudges the basket out of the shallows with its beak, -Mama Hippo, like a mountain,/ rises upward from the deep- to move him along, and -Mighty Crocodile- shelters him during a sudden storm. By the time Pharaoh-s daughter lifts Moses from the water in this quietly beautiful story, it seems that all of nature has determined to protect the infant. Ages 3-7. (Mar.)