JACOB'S TREE

PLB 0-688-15996-6 The familiar plight of the smallest is the subject of this picture book from Keller (Brave Horace, 1998, etc.), featuring a baby bear, who is smaller than his mother, father, and siblings. Jacob is frustrated when he can’t reach the cookie jar, see himself in the mirror, or climb to the top of the jungle gym. Papa and Mama tell him he must wait to grow bigger, but Jacob hates waiting. Paint marks on a tree replace the traditional notches in a door frame to mark Jacob’s height. No matter how many vegetables he eats, he doesn’t grow; when the snows come, his mark is buried in a drift. After the snow melts, the reassuring ending finds Jacob grown, not only in stature but in maturity. The apple-cheeked characters are round and cuddly, while the homey, pen-and-watercolor scenes are ever-affable. At their center, the demonstrative Jacob is an everychild, learning to find joy in small measures. (Picture book. 3-5)