MY BROWN BEAR BARNEY

Wherever the small narrator goes, she takes Barney plus an assortment of appropriate other people and things: her parents, little brother, things to eat, and sunglasses to the beach; ""my bike, our old dog Charlie, two apples from our tree, my boots"" when she plays with her friend; and so on through a half dozen activities, concluding with a projection for next year: ""My mother says that bears don't go to school. We'll see about that!"" The simple, nicely cadenced text by the well-known New Zealand author of Babies Need Books gives the illustrator a perfect opportunity to portray the important places and things in a little girl's life--what she wears, the items named (shown on a white ground for easy identification by the youngest ""readers""), and more complex scenes that incorporate many more identifiable details--and always Barney himself, joining in as a good friend should. Fuller's realistic illustrations are as crisp and clean as a new day. Just right for lap-sitters or the toddler group.