How to Be

Publishers Weekly

Brown (Baby, Mix Me a Drink), the author of faux children's titles for an adult audience, now turns in a picture book intended for children despite an archness of tone. Six sections with a few pages each include suggestions disguised as aping exercises. "How to be a Bear," for instance, invites readers to "Catch fish with your hands./ Hibernate./ Growl./ Be brave." Accompanying artwork features a brother and sister with matching knobby knees and lumpy red bathing suits. The two amuse themselves against blank white fields that create a feeling of make-believe, even if it plays up the rather distant tone of the children's interactions. "How to be a Monkey" starts, "Swing from a tree," while the brother swings from a branch, and his sister eats grapes above him. "Eat with your toes," it continues, as the boy brings a bunch of grapes to his mouth with his foot. "Copy someone" shows a series of stop-action drawings of the brother mimicking his sister; she discovers him, then stamps and shouts. Unfortunately, the choppy format does not allow for much characterization here; readers never get much of a sense of either sibling and may not see a need to heed their advice. Ages 6 mos.-3 yrs. (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Lisa Brown is the New York Times bestselling illustrator of How To Be, Sometimes You Get What You Want, and the New York Times bestselling book The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and son.