PreS-K When the youngster who normally visits the barn every morning fails to appear, the animals are left to wonder what happened to him. The dog tells them that Tommy went to a place called Kindergarten, but that was all he knew. Will the boy ever come back from there? After a long wait and much speculation, Tommy returns to tell them about his day and introduce them to the letters A through D. The story unfolds slowly and suffers from lack of action. Its structure is fairly sophisticated for the intended audience as most of the action happens out of sight. Instead of seeing the child in school, readers see the animals waiting for him and talking among themselves (with the recurring aside that If you'd been there, listening in, it would probably have sounded like this: 'NAYCluckMOObaa .'). Karas's illustrations, done in his trademark sketchy style and in fairly muted colors, do little to lighten the trudging pace of this quiet story. Tales about barnyard animals and about kindergarten abound, and this one fails to separate itself from the pack.Suzanne Myers Harold, Multnomah County Library System, Portland, OR