LITTLE BROWN BEAR WON’T GO TO SCHOOL!

The perennial theme of not wanting to go to school finds Little Brown Bear trekking disconsolately behind Mama Bear with her newspaper and bottled water and Papa Bear with his lunch pail. Going to a job seems like a lot more fun than going to school, so instead of going into his classroom, Little Brown Bear asks for a job at the diner. He gets one taking orders, but he doesn’t know how to write. Helping beavers put up a fence, a sheep knit a scarf, or cutting a lion’s mane at the barbershop also turn out badly. When Bear runs back to the safety of his classroom, he’s startled when the teacher says she has a job for him, but it’s one he can handle. Dyer’s signature large-scale, soft watercolors are full of light, their broad outlines anchored by delicate details: the checkerboard floor of the diner, the stripes of the sheep’s scarf. Robie Harris’s I am NOT Going to School Today! (below) has more oomph and energy, but fans of Little Brown Bear Won’t Take a Nap (2002) will love seeing their hero again. (Picture book. 4-7)