Little Bear's Trousers

Hissey's textured illustrations, so lifelike that they resemble hand-tinted photographs, are as remarkable here as in her Old Bear. All the toy characters are back, helping Little Bear locate lost trousers, which everyone has used differently: Camel as hump-warmers, Rabbit as a holey ski hat, Dog as a two-bone bone-holder, among others. Little Bear despairs but finds that his trousers are now Bramwell Brown's icing baghe's frosting a cake. The cake is dubbedrather arbitrarily, it seemsTrousers Day Cake, and Little Bear is soothed. That forgiveably weak ending is offset by the snug household scenes the friends inhabit; the rooms aren't scaled down, so there's a perfectly delightful depiction of Rabbit skiing down a slick bannister on tongue depressors. From the nubby terry-cloth towel to the pearl stitches of a knit hat and shiny chrome faucets, Hissey's world makes readers believe that Old Bear could be just around the next corner. Ages 3-7. (October)