Doctor Ted
In this ode to the imagination, Ted, a little bear, bumps his knee, decides he needs a doctor, and then decides to become one himself when he finds there isn’t one in the house. After waiting too long in his own waiting room for patients, he locates a bunch of them at school. Lemaitre’s illustrations, which put poignant facial expressions onto otherwise fairly cartoonish creatures, provide a good visual counterpoint to Beaty’s sweet, matter-of-fact sense of humor. Ted is certainly taken aback when the school principal, a boar in a purple jacket, sends him home after Ted diagnoses him with bad breath, a fever, and foot odor. (Ted’s mother and teacher don’t like their diagnoses either.) The predictable turnaround, during which Doctor Ted saves the day, is amusingly delivered; on the last page Ted wakes up, smells burned toast, and decides . . . well, kids will have fun guessing what Ted will do next. Grades K-2. --Abby Nolan