Gail L. (divine-ms-m) reviewed on 9/9/2006 + 312 more book reviews

The beguiling bears introduced in Can't You Sleep, Little Bear? are coming back from a walk in the snowy woods. When Little Bear tells his huge companion about the noises he hears following them (``Plod, plod, plod...I think it's a Plodder!''), Big Bear reassures him ``The plod was my feet in the snow''; and, later, ``That was the ice as it dripped in the stream''. But though Big Bear keeps saying, ``Come on,'' he ends--as big people do when tired little ones lag--by carrying Little Bear. Varying his comfortably repetitive tale with new sounds that Little Bear reports and new words to describe his slowing pace, Waddell again comes up with a well-nigh perfect nursery tale; he even rounds out his own beautifully constructed story with the one Big Bear tells Little Bear back in the cozy cave: the events of their walk home. Firth re-creates these endearing characters in soft pencil and watercolors of mostly brown and snow-shadow blue, in a relaxed style that perfectly captures the affectionate mood.

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