Doctor Ted

Doctor Ted
By Andrea Beaty
Illustrated by Pascal Lamaitre
McElderry Books, 2008

Publication date: April 8, 2008

You may know Andrea Beaty’s other picture books. Her very own Iggy Peck Architect was nominated in the Cybils fiction picture book category. It was also voted one of Time Magazine’s Top 10 Children’s Books of 2007. Wowzers!

Doctor Ted is another funny picture book by Beaty. All of the characters in the book are different characters. Ted is a cute looking little bear. He begins one morning with an injury to his knee and he realizes he needs a doctor. So, like a typical youngster, he looks for one himself. When none can be found, he becomes a doctor. Ted proceeds to “doctor up” everyone he can find at school. The adults in his school-life are not too thrilled about Ted’s new-found occupation. My favorite adult figure in the book is Mr. Bigham, fully and brilliantly illustrated as a big pig. Ha! Ted continues to aggravate everyone with his practice of medicine until one day his teacher really hurts herself. “Doctor Ted” remains calm, unlike Principal Bigham. The next day, Ted’s calling is to another profession—a firefighter.

What I love about this book is that it appeals to the young child. My toddler loves pretending to be various characters, just like Ted. In fact, I received this book several weeks ago, but I had to sneak it out of my three year old’s room so I could write a review of it. She has wanted to read it every night. A fun read that will capture that pre-reader’s imagination.

According to Andrea Beaty's website, there are more Ted books to come.




Andrea Beaty blogs at Three Silly Chicks.

Tomorrow look for a review of Andrea's upcoming middle grade novel, Cicada Summer.