I'M TERRIFIC

Jason Everett is a momma's bear, utterly pleased with himself--""When I hear myself talk I always hear wonderful things""--and given to awarding himself gold stars for being terrific. When his perfection becomes boring to friends (""I bet you eat spinach, too""), he turns to another extreme, tying Marvin Raccoon's fur in knots and kicking Raymond Squirrel's nut-pile apart. But with his new image equally unwelcome, Jason discovers Popeyean philosophy--""I am what I am""--and wins back his friends by untying, repiling, and then giving away all his gold stars. The ending is simplistic--who knows where Jason's identity crisis will lead?--yet the whole is pleasant enough, and Chorao's soft pencil drawings of an amusingly smug little bear stay just this side of cute. Not terrific, but give it a bronze star.