BEAR'S BIG BOTTOM

Sometimes, good things come in big packages.

He’s friendly and sweet, with “little paws and little feet.” But Bear’s big bottom gets him into all kinds of trouble. When he plays on the seesaw, he sends smaller animal friends into outer space. He fills the couch from side to side, threatening to squish them all, and empties the pool with a single splash. At least he’s easy for all of them to find. Bear wrecks Squirrel’s birthday bash when he accidentally smashes all the presents and sits on the cake. After his friends scold him, the devastated Bear runs away into the woods. His friends search high and low; for once, they can’t find him, not-so-cleverly concealed as part of a tree. Things take a dangerous turn when they call into a cave and a fox leaps out, chasing them and trying to bite their bottoms. Bear hears their cries for help, but he’s kind of stuck. Luckily, his silhouette against the tree looks like a monster, and that’s enough to scare away the fox. In a funny way, Bear’s big bottom has saved the day. Smallman’s crisp rhyming text is in tune with Yarlett’s bright and sometimes goofy illustrations. It’s hard not to laugh at the difference in scale, and snippets of dialogue incorporated into the illustrations add to the fun.

Solid lesson neatly presented.