A cross-cultural book that promotes peace highlights this month’s reviews of books that will interest Maine readers.

WISHING ON DARUMA, by Julie Zimmerman and Kimiaki Tokumasu (Biddle Publishing Co., P.O. Box 1305, Brunswick 04011, 111 pages, $9.95), is a collection of correspondence spanning 35 years between two children of different races, religions and cultures. Zimmerman lives in Harpswell; the Japanese-born Tokumasu lives in the Middle East. Book royalties will benefit the Samantha Smith Foundation and other organizations that encourage international understanding.

Also new on Maine bookshelves:

MARINE PAINTING: Techniques of Modern Masters (Waton-Guptill, 142 pages, $29.95), written by Susan Rayfield of Brunswick, features the seascape painting techniques of full-time Maine residents Vern Broe and Don Demers and others who visit part of the year. The full-color reproductions of their paintings are outstanding.

For the children, SHOPPING AT THE ANI-MALL, by Gloria Spaulding Bullock and Jane Bullock Crocitto (Windswept Publishers, Mount Desert 04660, 34 pages, $9.95), is the perfect marriage of rollicking nonsense rhymes about alphabetical animals shopping for things they cannot use, and color illustrations. Dr. Seuss would be proud.

Lovers of modern poetry will savor CYCLOID, by Harry Solomon (Figure Eight Press, Box 333, Augusta 04330, 66 pages, $12), a self-published collection of verse inspired by the travels of the Belfast poet. Also new, THE ESSENTIALS OF WRITING POETRY, by Arnold Perrin of Union (Fine Arts Press, Box 3491, Knoxville, Tenn. 37927, 40 pages, $7.95), covers such areas as the writing of poetry and how to enter a contest.

The literary-minded also will appreciate SACRIFICE IN THE WORKS OF MARGUERITE YOURCENAR: From Violence to Vision, by Joan E. Howard (Southern Illinois University Press, 323 pages, $32.50), which analyzes the different ways sacrifice functions in the plays, short stories and novels of Yourcenar, the late former resident of Northeast Harbor.

Finally, a lavish book of photographs and essays with a touch of Maine. AMERICA ON MY MIND (Falcon Press, $39.50, 200 pages), published to help schools purchase reading materials, boasts breathtaking color photographs from around the nation including one of the quiet harbor at Corea. The book was published jointly by the Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities, the Young Writer’s Contest Foundation, and Falcon Press. Take a bow, Caitlin Fitzgerald of the Rockport Elementary School, whose essay, “Friends Stick Together,” was chosen for publication.

Richard R. Shaw is the NEWS editorial page assistant.