When nighttime sounds keep Baby Bear awake he decides to get rid of night altogether. Grabbing the night sky (which resembles a big blanket), he begins to gobble it up; forest friends and Mama Bear convince him that everyone needs the night. The story is only mildly entertaining (Baby Bear burps), and the illustrations feature overly cutesy animals.

Mixed messages and a main character who comes off as less a frightened youngster than a self-absorbed twit spoil Pearson's debut. The fault lies chiefly (but not wholly) with the illustrations. Scared by noises in the nighttime woods, Baby Bear slips out of his den. He climbs a tall tree, rips down the starry sky like a curtain and proceeds to eat it. He callously brushes off the protests of a field mouse, a firefly and a bat in his determination to eradicate the night. He loses his fear of the dark when his mother appeals to self-interest by explaining that the dark helps bears survive, too. Despite being capable of pulling down the sky, he is portrayed by Leick not as a powerful figure or, considering his motives, even an anxious one, but as a chubby-cheeked teddy bear who exudes smug self-satisfaction as he continues to chew away despite the pleas of other creatures. Ultimately Baby Bear belches out the sky in what would be a comical climax were it not depicted as a few almost unnoticeable gassy wisps issuing from his mouth and disappearing into the page's gutter. Not only is Baby Bear's loss of fear too sudden to be believable, the art pays no mind to his inner emotional landscape and turns what is essentially a tale of mythic proportions into a cozy bit of feel-good ephemera. (Picture book. 5-7)

PreS-Gr 2 When night's shadows grow, the sounds of branches snapping and wildlife scurrying frighten Baby Bear. He can't sleep, so he devises a plan to rid the night of its darkness. He climbs up a tall tree to cut a line into the sky with his claws. He grabs the flap his cut has made and pulls it to the ground like a large, dark, star-adorned ribbon. With that, he begins to gobble it up. However, the animals and insects of the forest remind him of the night's usefulness. Field mice need its cover to hide from bigger predators. Fireflies shine their light to be seen and to talk to other fireflies. Bats can only see in the dark. Baby Bear is unmoved until Mama Bear helps him realize that the dark also keeps bears safe from hunters. With a little help from his animal friends, the cub puts the night and the stars and clouds back into their proper place. Looking at the twinkling stars above, he knows that "the night can be a bear's friend, too." Leick has rendered the drawings in watercolor and colored pencil with the bears' faces more human than animal-like. However, with a predominance of earth tones and deep blues, she has presented a peaceful backdrop for this story. Overall, a decently written effort, but one that should be considered a supplemental purchase. Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CA