The Too Big Bear

Deborah Dowson is a children’s librarian in Pickering, Ontario.

Children like to collect dinky toys, and miniature books have a similar
appeal. The Annick Minni Books or “Annikins” are palm-sized
paperbacks for children to hold and read to themselves and are priced
for young readers to buy with a bit of pocket change. The Annikins
reviewed here all deal with separation anxiety.

The best of the three is Baggage to London, which describes a child’s
worry when told of her father’s upcoming business trip. The soft,
charming illustrations by Ruth Ohi contain fine detail, and provide
cheerful touches such as the exuberant family dog. The story’s
touching resolution is shown only in an illustration that fully
expresses the loving understanding between father and child, and is not
described in words.

In The Too Big Bear, Justin is told that his favorite stuffed bear is
too big to go to camp with him. The boy tries various unsuccessful
schemes to sneak the bear along. Finally, the mother relents and allows
the bear to go. At the camp bus stop they discover that “bear” will
fit in well since many other campers bring their stuffed friends too.
There is nothing exceptional about the illustrations or the story.

In For Love of Rock, feelings of friendship and love are attributed to
a barely animate grey rock and red ant. The unlikely couple play games
and tell each other their problems until Ant announces that he must
leave to start a family. Rock simply sits and waits until Ant returns
with a rather large family. Now and for happily ever after they will
play together. The book is brief and minimalist in both illustration and
treatment of the subject matter.

Of the three titles I would highly recommend Baggage to London, but The
Too Big Bear and For Love of Rock would not be considered first-choice
purchases. The format is not suitable for circulating collections.