By Marsie Hall Newbold
Enquirer Contributor

Batsheva Serota, 10 1/2, has collected more than 300 Snapple bottle caps since last summer. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

Who: Batsheva Serota, 10 1/2, of Anderson Township, a fifth-grade student at the Seven Hills Doherty School with a taste for trivia.

What: Her collection of 334 Snapple bottle caps, which have such fascinating facts on the undersides as: "Licking a stamp burns 10 calories," "Camel's milk does not curdle" and "Fish cough."

Where: In a purple and green paper bag kept in her bedroom.

First anniversary: Batsheva, a straight-A student, who family and friends have nicknamed Sheva, began collecting Snapple caps last summer. "It's a lot of fun," she says. "But, I'm the only person I know who does it." Her brother, Asher, 81/2, and sister, Tziporah, 41/2, aren't "into it right now."

Jeepers keepers: She isn't sure how many caps are available to collect but guesses it is close to 229. (A quick call to Snapple's "800" number confirms there are 190.) "I have a lot of doubles," she adds, frowning. "But, that's OK. I keep them anyway."

Supply and demand: To keep her collection going, Batsheva makes sure that her mom and dad, Gretchen and Slava, keep lots of Snapple in the house. "My favorite flavors are peach and raspberry," she discloses. "But mostly peach. It's pretty good."

Learning is fun: The sweet drink may wet her whistle, but the caps are helping to quench her thirst for knowledge. Her favorite facts are:

"The longest one-syllable word is "screeched," "A pigeon's feathers are heavier than its bones," and "Children grow faster in the spring."

Batsheva says that her Snapple cap knowledge hasn't helped her grades ... so far. But believes that it might someday. "You never know," she says.

Purist: Batsheva collects her bottle caps for the sake of collecting, not for commercial reward. "Snapple is having a 'Yard Sale' where you save up the caps and trade them in for stuff," she explains. "Some people think that I am collecting them for the 'Yard Sale' but that is not true. I like the facts."

Collecting is a lot of fun, Batsheva adds. "I like to find new things. And if I find something new I like, I just want to get more and more of it. And right now, it's Snapple caps."

Share your prize possessions with Marsie Hall Newbold by mail: c/o The Cincinnati Enquirer, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati, 45202: e-mail: marsolete@aol.com. Please include a daytime, weekday telephone number.