BLACK BEAR BABY

The latest of Freschet's personalized baby animal profiles begins appealingly with two new cubs nestled with their mother in a warm January cave. Freschet takes them out after skunk cabbage in April, and later shows the two cubs playing, foraging for food, and learning a lesson from a porcupine. One of the games they discover, ""with happy squeals,"" is tumbling out of trees and bouncing like soft balls on the ground. Then a big male comes along, the cubs are sent up the tree (""male bears can be very dangerous. They sometimes kill small cubs""), and their mother drives away the intruder with an impressive show of ferocity. Once more, Freschet puts a little life into the familiar outline. Except for the adult bears' face-off, however, the pictures are dull and imprecise.