ISABELLA'S BED

When they visit Grandmother, the children sleep in ``Isabella's'' handsome bed and explore the trunk of South American treasures at its foot. Grandmother never joins in—``Too many memories,'' she says, and when her granddaughter asks about the sad song she sings, she tells how Isabella left the Andes after her beloved husband drowned. That night, the children dream of a voyage to the mountain scenes in the pictures on their wall; in the morning, their realization that Isabella and Grandmother are one helps the old woman, finally, to come to terms with her grief and to tell them more of her past. Exactly how the children's understanding does this is unclear; but the quiet, poetic text, exotic journey, and warm conclusion make a pleasant, unusual tale, beautifully complemented by the Australian author's serene, stylized illustrations, with their gentle characterizations and many intriguing details. (Picture book. 4- 8)