BRUNUS AND THE NEW BEAR

Big stuffed bear Brunus' jealousy of new little stuffed bear Heck--who, though ""too little to do anything interesting,"" keeps boy Benjamin busy--is so transparently an older child's reaction to the arrival of a sibling that it has no other interest. And, on that basis, it suffers from a similarly bald, and even more feeble, resolution: Benjamin, once aware of Brunus' unhappiness, tells him a story about a little boy and his old bear and his new bear. . . and after that, allowing for occasional tremors (""Sometimes, even though [Benjamin] knew he was a big bear, he wanted to be cuddled too""), all's well with the ""three friends."" The restrained, art-deco-ish pictures aren't bad, but the story is a wipeout.