The "new realism" that distinguishes some recent childrens' books such as "The Mimosa Tree,""The Bear's House," and "My Daddy Is a Policeman" portrays the important issues of human life from a one dimensional perspective. These books focus on the tragedies and problems of life without answering the child's philosophical questions regarding existence or the meaning inherent in the events of life; they do not clarify the relationship between hope and hopelessness, or victory and defeat. While these books use hopelessness and defeat as single-edged themes, other recent books such as "Slake's Limbo,""The Dark Is Rising," and "The Missing Person's League," deal with the realistic themes of darkness, despair, and hopelessness at the same time that they stress the importance of the search for goodness and victory in life. It is this search and the human need for hope that gives literature its substance. (MAI)