THIS IS THE BEAR AND THE SCARY NIGHT
by Sarah Hayes & illustrated by Helen Craig
In a third book about the appealing toy who debuted in This Is the Bear (1986), the bear has an alarming adventure after his boy absent-mindedly leaves him in the park. Carried away by an owl, he's dropped into a pond, rescued and dried out by a street musician, then set back on the same park chair for the boy to reclaim in an ecstatic reunion. Hayes relates all this in winning verse, as neatly honed as Nancy Shaw's exquisitely funny texts for her Sheep books (Sheep in a Shop, 1991); Craig's lively crosshatched illustrations bring the action affectionately to life. With humor, suspense, a contagiously rhythmic narration, and a perfect conclusion (``And this is the boy/ who grinned and said,/ `I know a bear/ who is ready for bed' ''), this is a real charmer. (Picture book. 2-6)