Where Is Bear? Padded Board Book

Bunny and her forest friends are playing hide and seek. She counts to ten while the animal friends hide. Bunny finds most all of her friends quickly. Bear is the last one to be found! Where could he be! Join in the fun and find out!

The animals of the forest are playing hide-and-seek and Bunny is "it." She closes her eyes, counts to ten, and sets off to find her forest friends. She finds each and every animal except for Bear. They search everywhere, until there's only one place left to look. The animals stick together and peek inside the cave to find Bear, napping. Bear wakes up and starts to count to ten, because it is his turn to be "it." Bear only makes it to count four, before he begins to snore. In this adorable rhyming book, the forest animals talk and act like children playing the classic game of hide-and-seek. The illustrations are done in pen-and-ink and watercolors. The illustrations function in several ways to add to the story. First of all, they establish the setting. From the moment the reader picks up the book, they know that the cute animals live in an equally cute and whimsical forest. The pen-and-ink lines that make up the animals blend in with the forest background, but the color brilliantly defines them. Through the illustrations the characters are developed and defined to be curious, careful, and fun loving. While it doesn't say in the text, "Bunny tiptoed," or "Squirrel scampered," the ideas of their movement and mannerisms can be found in the illustrations. Third, the illustrations help develop the plot. Each bit of text is accompanied by an enormous, full-page, color picture, which paints a picture in our mind as the story is being told. Finally, the illustrations help in establishing the mood. The light and airy, yet bright colors used on each page help create a fantasy world that we want to join. The illustrations are so inviting, it would be easy for children to truly want to visit the forest, and play a game of hide-and-seek with the animals. This book would be perfect to use as a read-aloud in a pre-school or kindergarten room. The sentences are simple, the illustrations are big, bold, and colorful, and the rhyming throughout the book is catchy and fun. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to enjoy a quick visit to a whimsical, colorful forest of animals.