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Big Brown Bear Goes to Town    by David McPhail Amazon.com order for
Big Brown Bear Goes to Town
by David McPhail
Order:  USA  Can
Harcourt, 2006 (2006)
Hardcover
* *   Reviewed by Hilary Daninhirsch

This picture book, divided into very short chapters, follows the adventures of Big Brown Bear and his Rat friend. Rat's little yellow car continually gets flooded from the rains, so Big Brown Bear decides to do something about it.

When Big Brown Bear needs a ride to town to do some errands, Rat is only too happy to oblige. Together they ride in Rat's little yellow car, which is ridiculously small for Bear, but they manage. It turns out that the bear's errands were for the purpose of giving a gift to Rat: he gives Rat a mailbox so he can turn it into a garage for his car.

I have always been a big fan of McPhail's art work and this book is no exception. He is especially adept at drawing animals. In this book, Big Brown Bear is depicted as warm and fuzzy as a teddy bear, rushing all over town in his striped nightshirt and red nightcap, while Rat is as cute as a button with his purple and yellow top hat.

The story itself is not very exciting, but the message of friendship and helpfulness is important. This book will appeal to the slightly younger end of the typical picture book audience range.

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