Fred's Beds

Beagle Fred has many kinds of beds: Shopping-Bag Bed (with party hats and noisemakers inside), Pile-of-Old-Newspapers Bed (Fred lies in the kitchen catching dripping cake batter), etc. Sharp-eyed kids will spot the clues to what's happening next. Samuels's art features bright colors and crisp patterns set against white backgrounds, so children can easily find the details that make the book so much fun.

Beagle Fred has many kinds of beds at home. There's Doormat Bed (and in the accompanying illustration we see a little red-haired girl holding a brown paper bag stepping carefully over Fred sprawled on the doorstep). There's Shopping-Bag Bed (Fred curls up inside the paper bag after investigating its contents--party hats and noisemakers). And there's Pile-of-Old-Newspapers Bed (where Fred lies on his back in the kitchen catching bits of dripping cake batter). Sharp-eyed kids will spot the clues to what is happening next, making this a good book for illustrating inference and making predictions. Unfortunately, the birthday party that ensues means trouble for Fred. Samuels's art features bright colors and crisp patterns set against white backgrounds, so children can easily find the details that make the book so much fun, like the dapper but mischievous young man in plaid shorts and bow tie blowing three blowers at once. In addition, each guest is distinct in his or her response to Fred's accidental naughtiness (when he takes a bite of the cake, for example, and tries to hide in "The Noisy-Baby Bed"). The book concludes with a happy dog and a happy girl cuddled up, and features endpapers covered with a variety of dogs in a variety of (actual) dog beds. susan dove lempke