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Kathleen R. Roedder reviews \"Rainy Day: Stories and Poems,\" edited by Caroline Feller Bauer, illustrated by Michele Chessare.

There is no shade in ''Paradigms Lost,'' although the filigree work in the church is very nice. In a series of essays on the abuse of our language, first published in More magazine and Esquire, Mr. [John Simon] commends logic, concision, clarity and authority, each of which is to be found in the Oxford English Dictionary, Webster's Second and American Heritage. He comes out against Rex Reed, Clive Barnes and Barbara Walters. He stoops to pun, e.g., ''lexicon artists'' and ''tsk-tsk-tsk fly.'' He resorts, not being able to help himself, to ''tonitruous,'' ''rutilant,'' ''batrachians,'' ''caducity,'' ''maieutics,'' ''esuriently,'' ''misocapnic'' and ''comate.'' He alludes to the affinity of Serbian folk poetry to the Homeric tradition. This is not as much fun as it should be. I happen to subscribe to most of Mr. Simon's principles. Perpetrators of the word who fail to distinguish between ''disinterested'' and ''uninterested,'' or ''fortuitous'' and ''fortunate,'' or ''enormousness'' and ''enormity,'' or ''who'' and ''whom,'' ought to be ridiculed. I am tired of having to explain the subjunctive to letter writers who are either esurient, which means greedy, or comate, which means either ''having a coma,'' or being ''hairy'' and ''tufted.'' Black English has some energy, but it won't help anyone get into medical school. Feminists would be better off rounding up votes for E.R.A. than getting themselves called chairpeople. ''Gay'' is absurd as an adjective modifying one's sexual preference. When Mr. Simon quotes Dr. Johnson, I lead the cheers:

Helen H. Shelton reviews \"Roomrimes,\" by Sylvia Cassedy, illustrated by Michele Chessare.

The traditional folk songs and unusual selection of yarns were collected by the children's book editor [Ann Durell] from various American regions and ethnic groups. The songs range from zippy (''Buffalo Gal,'' ''Yankee Doodle,'' ''Clementine,'' ''I've Been Working on the Railroad'') to melancholy (''On Top of Old Smokey,'' ''Swing Low, Sweet Chariot'') and sweet (''Billy Boy''). Ms. [DIANE GOODE] translates the pulse and mood of each into witty illustrations. The stories include the somewhat familiar (''Davy Crockett Meets His Match'' and ''Good or Bad?''), the not so familiar (''The Three Girls With the Journey-Cakes,'' ''The Talking Mule''), the humorous (''The Greedy Wife,'' ''The Twist-Mouth Family,'' ''The Knee-High Man''), the animal fable (''The Coyote and the Bear'') and the shivery ghost tale (''Wait Till Martin Comes'').

The narrator of ''That New Pet!'' by [Alane Ferguson], illustrated by [Catherine Stock], is a Siamese cat, who, along with a dog and a parrot, finds his life disrupted by the arrival of their human owners' baby daughter. At first they don't know what the new critter is, but the cat, the smartest of the bunch, figures it out and says ominously, ''When a baby comes - EVERYTHING CHANGES!'' Getting the baby to smile is also the key to ''Little Rabbit's Baby Brother,'' by [Fran Manushkin], illustrated by Diane de Groat. Little Rabbit, whom some may remember from the popular ''Little Rabbit's Loose Tooth,'' goes on a picnic with her father and pregnant mother. She does tricks for her doting parents and basks in their attention. But at home, when her parents talk about the coming new baby, Little Rabbit worries about losing her place in the house. She has an anxious, though not too scary, dream about searching for a new home: She runs across some friendly polar bears who invite her to live with them but finds their hugs too icy. A more realistic, less rosy approach marks ''It's Not Fair!'' by [Anita Harper], illustrated by [Susan Hellard]. The story is told by a young kangaroo who gets angry when her new brother seems to receive preferential treatment. ''That's not fair,'' the kangaroo sulks as her brother's messes are ignored while hers are criticized. ''It's not fair,'' she fumes as the baby sitter comforts her screaming brother while shushing her. But the tables start to turn as the book explores her baby brother's feelings. The little kangaroo begins to realize that her brother has some complaints too. He can't splash through puddles on rainy days or go sledding like his sister. He can't accompany her to her play-group. When the baby brother finally learns to talk, he watches his sister leave for a party and howls ''It's not fair!''