A republished biography of Dorothea Lynde Dix, the Maine-born reformer who took up the cause of the mentally ill, along with children’s books by Shapleigh author and photo-illustrator Bruce McMillan highlight this month’s rundown of current regional titles.

HEART’S WORK, by Charles Schlaifer and Lucy Freeman (Paragon House, 170 pages, $19.95), is the courageous story of Dix, a Hampden native, who overcame a traumatic childhood to improve appalling conditions in mental institutions. The book also details Dix’s four years in Washington, D.C., helping wounded Civil War soldiers to stay alive.

Two new books by Bruce McMillan showcase his penchant for teaching and entertaining young readers. PLAY DAY (Holiday House, 29 pages, $14.95), is a collection of “terse verse” that pictures a group of 2-year-olds at play in a grassy-green yard alongside brief rhymes each composed of two words that sound alike, such as “Goat Boat” and “Blue Shoe.” Through colorful photographs of pizzas and bananas and strawberry pie, EATING FRACTIONS (Scholastic Inc., 29 pages, $13.95), introduces youngsters to the mathematical concept of halves, thirds and quarters.

MISTAKES THAT WORKED, by Charlotte Foltz Jones (Doubleday, 75 pages, $15), will also delight young readers. Aspirin, Silly Putty and Velcro all were invented or named by accident, at least according to the author. The accidental naming of Bangor in 1791 after a hymn by the tippling Parson Seth Noble merits a mention, and an illustration.

SAM PREDICTS A STORM, by Marion M. Davis (Starboard Cove Publishing, HCR 70, Box 442, Bucks Harbor 04618, 36 pages, $6.95), is book No. 2 in her series of children’s stories of Sam the Royal Cat, illustrated in black and white by Anne Johnston.

A quite different book, ROSA RUGOSA (Capability’s Books, 2379 Highway 46, Deer Park, Wis. 54007, 90 pages, $19.95), will have you dreaming of springtime. Written by Suzanne Verrier, a North Yarmouth rosarian, the book is illustrated with 51 full-color photographs of rugosa roses, which many claim are the hardiest of all roses.

DEAR BOYS: World War II Letters from a Woman Back Home, by Mrs. Keith Frazier Somerville, and edited by Judy Barett Litoff and University of Maine Professor David C. Smith (University Press of Mississippi, 3825 Ridgewood Road, Jackson, Miss. 39211, 253 pages, $37.50 clothbound, $15.95 paperbound), is a collection of Mrs. Somerville’s newspaper columns written in the form of letters to soldiers. When the war ended in 1945 she heard the news from a Tennesse mountaintop, and wrote, “We … each took a hand at ringing the big bell which calls people to church services and picture shows here.”

Two books will appeal to students of literature. The first, the slim THE ESSENTIALS OF WRITING POETRY, by Arnold Perrin of Union (Fine Arts Press, Box 3491, Knoxville, Tenn. 37927, 40 pages, $7.95), covers the writing of modern poetry and poetry contests. The second is far more complex: SACRIFICE IN THE WORKS OF MARGUERITE YOURCENAR: From Violence to Vision, by Joan E. Howard (Southern Illinois University Press, P.O. Box 3697, Carbondale, Ill. 62902-3697, 323 pages, $32.50). Howard analyzes the different ways sacrifice functions in the plays, short stories, and novels of Yourcenar, the late former resident of Northeast Harbor.

Finally, horror fiction from a New Brunswick author whose first published novel is set in a small, fictional Maine town. Joan Hall Hovey’s LISTEN TO THE SHADOWS (Zebra Fiction, $4.50), chronicles the terror that artist Katie Summers faces after she emerges from a four-day coma. Zebra Fiction is touting the book as a classic tale of murder, madness and revenge.

Richard R. Shaw is the NEWS editorial page assistant.