Little Bea

PreS—This slight story lacks a narrative thread, and the cloying, greeting-card art fares no better. A bee gets up in the morning and has a series of random interactions with other animals, who are delighted to see her. Eventually, evening arrives, the Moon comes up, and Little Bea goes to sleep. "Good night, Little Bea. Bzz. Bzz. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz." The encounters with each animal appear page by page with no transition from one to the next, and children are likely to be lost as Little Bea jumps from one episode to the next with no apparent reason. Readers have the sense of looking through someone's snapshots with no one to explain why the pictures are meaningful. The computer-enhanced full-bleed art stylistically marries greeting cards with cartoons. All of the characters are cutesy stuffed-animal look-alikes. Libraries are filled with wonderful picture books on character interactions and their small adventures. Save room for more good ones, and pass on this offering.—Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT