Baby Bear's Bedtime Book

Kindergarten-Grade 3-- Baby Bear and Goldie reappear, having made their first appearance in Yolen and Dyer's The Three Bears Rhyme Book (HBJ, 1987) . Goldilocks is taking care of Baby Bear while his parents are out. Like any smart toddler, he knows how to delay bedtime--by asking for stories, all kinds, silly, scary, sad, angry, funny, adventurous, and true. Like Scheherazade, Goldie rises to the occasion, with a little vignette for each request, complete on a two-page spread. The stories are sure to be a hit with both clever young listeners and adult readers, who will appreciate the alphabet jokes, the word play, and the storytelling conventions that might otherwise go over the heads of the younger audience. The internal unity of each story, along with its brevity, makes the book a candidate for several rereadings. The watercolor illustrations, alternating with the two-page spread for each story and showing all manner of incongruous detail in a unified montage, provide the visual detail that will draw children to them again and again. And the page-turning quality of the narrative, compelling readers on to the end of the small stories, as well as to the end of the frametale, will move any child to bed with sweet dreams. --Ruth K. MacDonald, Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, IN
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"Just one story," pleads Baby Bear, and then he'll go to sleep. When Goldie falls for what has to be the oldest line known to youngsters, "just one" story soon spins into a whole picture book-full. Each of the stuffed animals in Baby Bear's room--an elephant, a mole, an anteater, an alligator, a sheep and a tiger--takes a turn in the limelight as Goldie patiently makes up tales to suit her charge's fancies. The stories are pure froth, and the prolific Yolen outdoes herself at one point with an exceedingly comical account of a flock of sheep, all named Sam. Dyer, Yolen's collaborator on the Piggins books and The Three Bears Rhyme Book , treats readers to crisp, imaginatively framed images in a palette of clear, fresh colors. Ages 3-8.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.