Although the primary draw of this over-size novelty book, a Soft to Touch title like the author/illustrator's Little Lamb
, are the texture-enhanced watercolor illustrations, the visual and verbal storytelling unfold with enough fluidity and assurance to attract a preschool audience on their own merits. Emerging from his ice cave for the first time, Little Snow Bear embraces his new world with gusto: "[He] rolled around in the soft, powdery snow. It was so much fun, he did it again and again!" Mother Bear allows him to go exploring, but soon the cub is lost—a predicament that introduces Little Snow Bear to a friendly seal, a reindeer and an ice-fishing Inuit girl, who hitches her dogs to her sled and drives Little Snow Bear home to his mother. Harper creates full-bleed polar landscapes with an architecture of ice and snow, punctuated with gossamer lavenders and blues. The illustrations' flocking is pleasantly unpredictable; sometimes there are fairly big velvety surfaces for fingers to explore, and other times, just smidgens. In either case the special effects serve as embellishments to a sturdy offering—or the icebergs on the cake. Ages 3-5. (Oct.)
