WHO IS BEN?

From the moment readers see Ben peering at them from the title page of this philosophical investigation, they'll know they're in for a new treat from Zolotow (When the Wind Stops, 1995, etc.). Ben, settled into the warmth of a loving, safe home, sits at a window, staring at the "big enfolding dark that was part of him, and he was part of it." When his mother comes in to turn on the light in his room and interrupts his reverie, he asks, "Where was I before I was born? . . . where will I be when I die?" He already has some understanding of the answers, in that "lovely soft enfolding blackness." This remarkable book about the oneness of life takes on questions that occur to many children—and adults—with the gentle reassurance that is vast enough to encompass many philosophies. Jacobi's luminous paintings brilliantly meet the challenge of illuminating the pitch black that is the absence of color and differentiation—the eternal void from which all else emerges. In the same way that the text anchors larger issues to a child's musings, the illustrations secure the universe-sized "big picture" to a boy's snug bedroom. (Picture book. 5-9)