COME BACK, GRANDMA

Bessie is well loved, but can't always find someone to play with; her parents are busy, and little Krishna next door isn't ``allowed out much.'' Still, Bessie has Grandma, who reads aloud, plays games (even hopscotch), and always has ``time for Bessie.'' When Grandma dies, Bessie tries to imagine heaven, where her mother says she is, and wonders if Grandma could have been reborn as an animal, as Krishna suggests; still, Bessie goes on missing her until, years later, Grandma is recalled in a very special way. Bessie's first child not only has Grandma's freckles and ``bendy thumbs''; she behaves like her, in some poignantly subtle ways. The comforting story, with its implied openness to the wisdom of various faiths, makes a different, nicely understated approach to the subject. Mu§oz's expressively cross-hatched drawings and muted watercolors perfectly capture the warmth of the relationships and the touching echo of the beloved old lady in her little great-granddaughter. A simply told story with unusual resonance. (Picture book. 4-8)