Little Bear's personality energizes the stories in this series; his companions are engaging, and the artwork is colorful, detailed, and humorous. Imaginative integration of text and pictures creates relationships between the characters that are believable and warm. (Recommended for ages 2-6) Little Bear chooses to ignore the map his coach gives him for the school foot race and ends up paying a high price for thinking a shortcut will help him win. This is Book 7 in the Little Bear Adventure Series.