Little Brown Bear is Growing Up

Small formats house slender offerings in this series imported from France. Little Brown Bear's experiences seem intended as upbeat reflections of a typical childhood: in Share, for example, a playground swing is the catalyst for an argument with a classmate, then for a lesson in compromise. In Growing Up, the ursine hero boasts a litany of things he can do now that he's an older cub (such as put on a coat and button it by himself). The unassuming, flattened text ( `Little Brown Bear,' says Papa Bear, `finish eating your food.' `I don't want any more, Papa,' he says."") verges on the prosaic, and is too short for use as a beginning reader. The illustrations have only marginally more appeal: although the pictures have an arresting, almost air-brushed veneer, the colors are muted in most pictures, and the bears' expressions are more or less unchanging. Ages 3-8. (Apr.)