Where's my teddy?

We have read most of the books we currently have on loan from the library and so far Where's My Teddy? is Ben's second-favourite. The Birthday Box is still leading the charge.

I selected this book because it was one of my favourites for preschool storytime. It's about Eddy who loses his teddy called Freddy in the dark woods. Eddy bravely goes into the woods to look for Freddy but his fear turns to confusion when he comes across a gigantic teddy sitting in a clearing. He's trying to work out how Freddy got so big when he hears loud crying - it's a big brown bear looking for his own teddy. And tucked under the big brown bear's arm is Freddy!

So Eddy and the big brown bear do a quick swap - they're clearly scared of each other - and then run home to their snuggly beds. I adore the illustrations on the last page which show the big brown bear in bed clutching his teddy and then Eddy in bed clutching Freddy, both with looks on their faces as if to say "That was close!".

Turning to my new Good Book For A 2yo Boy Checklist, this book rhymes, has a scary part, requires the reader to shout "HELP!" and ends with bedtime (albeit uneasily). The illustrations deserve special mention because Eddy's emotions are clearly visible as he goes into the woods, finds the gigantic teddy, swaps bears and lands in bed. There's also an illustration of the dark, empty woods at the start and the end of the story which we ponder over for a minute or two, wondering what's in there...


And just to prove how much Benji loves this book he interrupted me during the writing of this paragraph to read Where's My Teddy?. We have also been reading No More Bottles For Bunny and the enigmatic Potty Time. More about them next time.

Where's My Teddy? is by Jez Alborough