Peef and His Best Friend — Tom Hegg

PreS-Gr 1-In this story told in rhyme, an unnamed boy and his stuffed bear have imaginary adventures during the summer. They see dinosaurs in the hedges, escape from spies on a scooter, and fight pirates in the bathtub. Then the boy goes to school and wants to be friends with the popular crowd. When one of them visits his house and belittles Peef as a baby toy, the boy tosses his faithful pal into a corner. But the potential friendship doesn't work out. The boy apologizes to the bear, who advises the child to [be] true to who you are, and that when the two of us may have to say goodbye, they will both know. In the meantime, they resume their imaginary play, content with one another. While the story hardly offers a satisfactory resolution of friendship issues, it is the forced, wooden verse; condescending use of Dear Children; and antiquated, capitalized reference to the bear as the boy's Best Friend that make this story seem old-fashioned, didactic, and unappealing. Hanson's bright watercolors depict the anthropomorphic bear drinking, smiling, and crying, which is true to some children's imagination, while the energetic boy in striped T-shirt and white tennis shoes will be familiar to grandparents' memories of childhood.-Susan Hepler, Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.