TEENY TINY TALES FOR TODDLERS

“In a teeny tiny house lived five teeny tiny children and a teeny tiny guard dog.” Burr, the dog, who moves about on wheels, learns by accident that he’s good at guarding (as well as sleeping and barking) when a huge, furry, whiskered visitor invades the doll house. When Raggedy Andy–like twins Spike and Reed find a giant, pointy-eared, upside-down monster with “umbrella-bits” on its sides in the attic, Fern tells them it’s just a flittermouse, and the doll children watch it take flight at dusk. Hayes, the British creator of the This Is the Bear series, tells these plus three other quite short tales about toy children who inhabit a tiny house in a garden. Garson’s mostly full-bleed watercolor-and-pencil illustrations feature plenty of full-sized and toy items to keep little eyes busy. The simple, cozy stories (the others include a garden adventure for the twins, a hunt for the missing baby Rose and Poppy’s desire for wings) are ideal for bedtime reading, with illustrated thumb tabs on the page edge for easy access to a favorite. (Picture book. 1-4)