BIZZY BEAR, LET'S GET TO WORK!
by Benji Davies & illustrated by Benji Davies
Bizzy Bear knows how to get the job done.
He assists his fellow animal construction workers in building a house from the ground up. All donning hard hats and protective boots, the team quickly turns beams and boards into a home. Bright, digital spreads, predominately in a warm, sandy palette, keep the focus on the building site. Sturdy sliders placed within well-engineered die-cuts allow children to manipulate the machinery, though the tabs' minute sizes and varied placements make the interactive items a little tough for young toddlers. Bizzy bulldozes sand, transports gravel and lifts bricks. A rhyming, chipper voice narrates each scene with a surfeit of exclamation points. In the final scene, pulling the tab up opens the blinds to reveal Bizzy's friends working on the cottage's interior; a pig and rabbit wave from the top of the chimney. A bustling companion, Bizzy Bear, Off We Go!, briefly introduces familiar modes of transportation through a similar design.
Bury the excessive exclamation points and focus on the visual details to salvage this dig.
(Board book. 6 mos.-2)