cover image Where, Oh Where, is Kipper's Bear?: A Pop-Up Book with Light!

Where, Oh Where, is Kipper's Bear?: A Pop-Up Book with Light!

Mick Inkpen. Red Wagon Books, $15.95 (16pp) ISBN 978-0-15-200394-4

In this pop-up bedtime tale, Kipper, a floppy-earred dog, searches for his teddy bear in every nook and cranny that he finds. He looks in holes and under blankets; he asks mice, piglets and even the ``pinky purple Bleeper People living on the moon'' about his teddy's whereabouts. Fortunately for youngsters, Kipper's lack of success means pages of pull-tabs and flaps. The rhyming text is more often a miss than a hit (``This hole in the ground/ with a mound is a mole's!/ But this little home/ (without) is a vole's!'') but Inkpen's open white spaces and endearing characters lend a peaceful, childlike charm to this friendly bear hunt, which ends with a neat surprise. Even though Kipper retires to bed empty-handed, readers will locate the teddy right under Kipper's toes (under a lift-the-flap blanket, at the foot of his bed), holding a flashlight that, when the flap is lifted, really does light up. Ages 2-5. (Sept.)