WHERE IS BEAR?

The game is hide-and-seek. The players are an array of forest-dwelling creatures that—in story-book land—are perfectly happy to get along. It’s bunny’s turn to count while fox, frog, bear, and several other critters scurry off to hide. The melodic rhymes carry the reader through the pages as bunny locates each animal. “Now all are found except for Bear. No one sees him anywhere.” Together the animals search high and low for the one beast that would be hardest to hide. They look near the creek and peer behind tree trunks. At last they come to a cave. No one particularly wants to enter this dark, dank space, but as a group they feel braver, and, sure enough, bear is there, asleep. Once roused, though, bear proves that he has a habit of sleeping on the job. In pen and watercolor, the forest backdrop is murky, but the animals are bright-eyed and bushytailed. Newman lacks her usual flair, but the text is simple enough for the youngest ears and proves that together is better. (Picture book. 2-4)