Blue Bear's Race

I used to read this book over and over to my son, now a freshman at Yale. It is full of wry wit and splendid imagination. I often thought someone could make a fortune merchandising all the bear characters as stuffed animals.

Blue Bear's Race is one of my 3 1/2 year-old's favorite stories. We've been reading it for a year. She enjoys the excitement as the bears fly in the air and land on their respective hat and nose, resulting in a trip to a hospital. You'll find child-pleasing tidbits like "Put out that cigarette!" and the surgeon's cold paws. The artwork is as clever as the story-telling, drawn at imaginative angles such as a view over a car passing in the rain through the window at the two bears arguing inside. A pleasure for the parent, too, with its wry humor. I think of the first part as a story of consequences for irresponsible behavior, and the second part as a "prodigal son" type story as the bear friends and bear medical people nurse the injured bears back to health. I also liked the opportunity to give her a child's-eye view of a hospital and its workings.