TWIN TROUBLE

Two bear cubs get themselves in a jam in this ineffective lift-the-flap story.

Bobby and Bella go off to meet relatives, and Bobby ends up taking a tumble into the river. Their aunt and cousins arrive just in the nick of time to rescue the cub and bring him home. Like others in the Wild Tales series, the story is mainly composed of the dialogue and features cute photos of critters grafted onto scenery painted with thick black lines. The flaps, which are unfinished brown cardboard on the verso, are a big distraction, and there is little rhyme or reason to their presence. They often block the view of the characters and rarely reveal anything new or surprising on their interiors. A companion book, Ella’s Bath (978-1-4263-1360-8), features a baby elephant playing a trick on a cheeky bird, cooling off in the mud and taking a bath. Again, the unfinished-looking flaps reveal little. A note to parents on the back covers of both offerings encourages interaction between youngster and grown-up. National Geographic, known for its nonfiction publishing, provides little information to tots in this slight tale. (Board book. 2-4)