I'm Afraid Your Teddy Is In Trouble Today

PreS-Gr 2— This picture book frames the misbehavior of a rambunctious teddy bear with two police officers responding to noise complaints from angry neighbors. As near as the officers can tell, the ruckus started shortly after the bear's owner left for school. Teddy called their friends' stuffed animals and invited them over for pancakes, drawing on the walls, a bubble bath sliding contest, and a dance party. Ultimately, the teddy bear is too cute and inspires too much nostalgia for the officers to take him to the station like a hardened criminal and he is let go with a warning, although readers will not have much reason to hope he will mend his naughty ways. The two police officers, a black woman and a white man, are most often depicted against a white background, in contrast to the colorful and chaotic representations of the stuffed animal party. The pages are crowded with a variety of stuffed animal characters including rabbits, elephants, and tigers, and the spreads represent a visual game of I Spy.