The Trouble with Ben

Ben, a burly, brown bear clad in kids' clothes, is not at all like the boys and girls at school. He bounds across the playground on all fours and balances fish on his nose. Ben's classmates think he's weird, and his teacher constantly scolds him and sends him to the principal's office. The bumbling bruin does his best to imitate the other youngsters, but ``when he tried to be like them, it didn't feel right.'' When Ben suddenly decides to shed his clothing and start acting like a bear (even though he still attends school), he is happy at last. Polisar's message that it's okay to be different has been communicated more gracefully and effectively in numerous other books. Also, children may well sense the flawed logic here--``be yourself'' is an admirable axiom, but a bear can never be a child. Though marred by a repetitive text and awkward writing (``He hated running in clothes and felt funny in them''), the volume is pepped up by Clark's droll cartoons. Ages 5-10. (May)