THE FRIENDLY SNOWFLAKE

The psychotherapist author of The Road Less Traveled (a bestseller for over nine years) assays his first children's book- -a slight story much burdened with a heavy message. When a snowflake melts on Jenny's nose, she names it Harry and begins a winter-long rumination on its place in the scheme of things, imbuing Harry with individuality and postulating that a larger flake might be a ``family'' of crystals. Jenny's older brother Dennis, a science-minded know-it-all, scoffs, but when Dad comes home from a trip to India he explains the concept of reincarnation—whereupon Jenny, considering the water cycle, concludes that her snowflake might actually come back to a local pond in the spring. In addition to its rather muddled theology, there are superfluous details of the weather and long-winded, informative conversations, as well as stereotyping—sensitive girl, clever older boy with math skills like Dad's, etc. The author's son, still a student, contributes realistic color-pencil art, unexceptional but attractive. First printing of 100,000. (Fiction. 7-10)