MY FRIEND BEAR

An unexceptional cute description of life with the small narrator's ever-present toy bear, who ""is not big like me"" (me being the family's youngest) and so is sometimes messy at table or careless when playing explorers on the living room chairs. On errand rounds with Mama, Bear hides in the gift shop and climbs into the post office package chute; he also gets himself lost at the beach. At home, Bear loves to read and to dance and he ""runs with me to the door"" when Daddy comes home from work. But of course after being tucked into bed, ""Night time is the best time to have a friend like bear."" Meddaugh's kid-style cartoons give the ordinary doings a chipper touch--but they are essentially back-up pictures, without much to back up.