The beguiling bears introduced in Can't You Sleep, Little Bear? (1992) are coming back from a walk in the snowy woods. When Little Bear tells his huge companion about the noises he hears following them (``Plod, plod, plod...I think it's a Plodder!''), Big Bear reassures him (``The plod was my feet in the snow''; and, later, ``That was the ice as it dripped in the stream''). But though Big Bear keeps saying, ``Come on,'' he ends--as big people do when tired little ones lag--by carrying Little Bear. Varying his comfortably repetitive tale with new sounds that Little Bear reports and new words to describe his slowing pace, Waddell again comes up with a well-nigh perfect nursery tale; he even rounds out his own beautifully constructed story with the one Big Bear tells Little Bear back in the cozy cave: the events of their walk home. Firth re-creates these endearing characters in soft pencil and watercolors of mostly brown and snow-shadow blue, in a relaxed style that perfectly captures the affectionate mood. (Picture book. 2-6)
