Three Feet Small Book

It's not easy to be little in the middle of everything big! When, oh when, will this little bear grow?

Publishers Weekly

The narrator, a bear cub, fears that he's permanently stuck at "just three feet small." Will life always be beyond his reach-or at least require him to use a booster seat? Then Grandpa remarks one day that the cub isn't so easy to toss in the air anymore. Other key indicators follow: outgrown clothes, his bike seat suddenly needs raising, and finally the incontrovertible proof of a growth chart: "I'm taller right now than ever before!" the cub exclaims. "I'm a little less little, a little more big." With plainspoken empathy, Rosen (Elijah's Angel) articulates his hero's frustration without turning him into a whiner. Readers-especially those on the lower end of the growth curve-will commiserate with the cub's fortitude, and eagerly follow along as he surpasses one critical benchmark after another. Like Rosen, Gorbachev (The Giant Hug) evinces a knowing but always sympathetic perspective. His sprightly, anthropomorphized animal characters, rendered in pen-and-watercolor illustrations portray a benevolent world; the inhabitants may not be able to help the cub grow any faster, but everyone's eager for him to measure up. Ages 3-7. (May) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.