>THE ILLUSTRATED WORLD OF WILD ANIMALS Kids should be careful about using this book as a sole source for a science report. Author Mark Carwardine, while he has a zoology degree, says copperheads, North American reptiles, are Asian snakes. The lifelike animal illustrations are plentiful, however, and there's lots of information for, say, a fourth grader. History's longest recorded animal, for instance, was a 180.44-foot bootlace worm. (Simon and Schuster, $12.95)
WEE WONDERS OF NATURE One of those volumes shaped for a 2-year-old hand, this book, illustrated by Ellen Blonder, teaches such pleasing words as starfish, grasshopper and clover. (Grosset & Dunlap, $2.50)
FISHES The Colorforms books give children semiadhesive figures that they can place onto scenarios where superheroes kick villains in the gizzard. Parents may prefer this Stick & Learn book by Frances Todd Stewart and Charles P. Stewart III, where an emperor angelfish can be put in the Great Barrier Reef, or a Ianternfish in the deep sea. Don't worry, though, kids. Who's to know if you have the fangtooth fish and the great white shark battle the wolf-eel in the giant kelp forest? (Harper & Row)
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