Dog and Bear: Two's Company

R 3-5 yrs. Is the friendship firmly established in Dog and Bear: Two Friends, Three Stories (BCCB 6/07) in danger? It would seem so, since the first of these three stories involves Dog informing Bear that he’s so angry with his friend that he’s running away. Bear patiently supports Dog through his packing labors and then wistfully supposes Dog won’t stay for an ice-cream snack, which, of course, is all the convincing Dog needs. In the second story, Dog makes Bear a birthday cake so delicious that he cant resist testing it out himself; in the third, Dog is feeling poorly, but he’s not so unwell that he cant find plenty of helpful labors for kind Bear to perform in assistance. As in the first book, text is simple and its almost entirely couched in dialogue; even when Dog is alone and nibbling away at Bear’s cake, he’s exclaiming aloud over its irresistibleness. Character is effectively delineated through the compact words, though, with volatile Dog the childlike partner of Bear’s more adult stability (really, Bear’s getting gthe short shrift if this is an actual friendship). Sweeping, textured thick black lines form the outlines of the visual elements, enhancing the appearance of simplicity, as does the fact that most spreads are dominated by the figure of Dog (a rich weiner-dog brown) and Bear ( a harlequin confabulation of autumnal tones). Combining some of the relationship dynamics and toy-animal charm of Winnie-the-Pooh with a pared down form of style, this will make a cuddly read aloud for young storytimers. DS