Children's writer Katherine Ayres always loved stories, but she didn't always love vegetables.

Her picture book "Up, Down, and Around" demonstrates the zeal of the convert. It makes growing and eating vegetables seem like a circus, thanks to her songlike rhymes and the bold, cheery color illustrations of Nadine Bernard Westcott. Even garden pests — rabbits, crows and insects — appear delightful.

The Pittsburgh resident's book was selected for this year's Pennsylvania One Book, Every Young Child early literacy program, scheduled for launch at 11 a.m. Thursday, April 3, at New Cumberland Public Library.

Children ages 3-6 and their families are invited to attend programs at public libraries around the state this month, where special programs will explore the wonder of gardening and learn about nutrition. The libraries and the bookmobile also will have multiple copies of the book available for borrowing and reading at home.

"Growing up is funny. Some things change and some things stay the same," Ayres said in a press release.

As I child, she recalls eating corn on the cob, potatoes and tomatoes willingly. "The rest could just sit in their dishes forever. Or even better, they could stay in the cans or in the freezer or in the garden, so I wouldn't have to look at them, or smell them, or get in trouble for not eating them."

Ayres added, "I now like every vegetable in the book, including okra!"

"Up, Down and Around'' celebrates vegetables from planting through harvest — and a lunch of soup, salad and pumpkin pie.

"In the dirt we'll dig a row, drop some seeds, and watch them grow," it begins. "Broccoli grows up. Beets grown down. Green beans wind around and around," it continues.

• County library programs will feature a reading aloud of the story. Then children will be encouraged to play with games, puppets, toys and puzzles in a special traveling trunk the Pennsylvania State Library has designed to expand on the theme of the book. Local programs are scheduled as follows:

9:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 8, Eastern Lancaster County Library, New Holland;

10:45 a.m. Wednesday, April 9, Pequea Valley Public Library, Intercourse;

10:30 a.m. Thursday, April 10, Lancaster Public Library;

10 a.m. Friday, April 11, Lancaster Public Library;

10 a.m. Tuesday, April 15, Adamstown Area Library;

10 a.m.Wednesday, April 16, Leola Branch Library;

10 a.m. Thursday, April 17, Elizabethtown Public Library;

1:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 22, Moores Memorial Library, Christiana;

4 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, Ephrata Public Library;

10:30 a.m. Friday, April 25, Quarryville Library;

10:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 29, Mountville Branch Library;

9:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 30, Manheim Community Library.

Call the nearest library or log onto www.lancasterlibraries.org to register for its program.

For more information about One Book, Every Young Child log on to: http://www.paonebook.org. (This site includes a schedule of the author's visits around the state, though she is not scheduled to visit any county libraries.)

For more information about the author, visit her Web site: http://personal.chatham.edu/faculty/kayres/.