Doctor Ted
By Andrea Beaty, illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre
Margaret K. McElderry; $14.99
32 pp.; ISBN-13: 978-1416928201

Review by Amy Brozio-Andrews

There's a saying about how if you find a need, fill it; Andrea Beaty fulfills that adage in a topsy-turvy way that's sure to please young picture book readers. Young bear Ted bangs up his knee one morning. Since he thinks he needs a doctor, and can't find one, he decides to become one himself. He decks out a waiting room for himself, devises a bandage, and gets geared up in a doctor's uniform. Once he gets ready for patients, he waits and waits for them to come. And then he waits some more. And once it's clear that they aren't coming to him, he decides to go to them. Except that no one seems too interested in Doctor Ted's help. While Ted diagnoses his mother's measles, she corrects him -- they're just freckles. Ted also tries to diagnose his classmates, his teacher, and even his school principal only to be rebuffed at every turn. It's not until a playground mishap has the principal losing his cool that Doctor Ted gets to show off his medical expertise and get the credit for it.

Andrea Beaty's Doctor Ted is a creative and humorous look at a youngster's enthusiasm for a particular subject. Poor Ted is so very earnest in his attempts to help those around him, seeing himself as filling what he sees as a real void. His off-the-cuff diagnoses are based on his "patients'" noticeable characteristics, for example, deciding that his teacher has mumps ("Those are my cheeks") and his principal has gingivitis (he is a warthog). Young readers will pick up on the funny parts right away as illustrator Pascal Lemaitre's artwork reflects the visual humor of say, the principal's face getting red in anger and Doctor Ted suggesting that the principal's problem is that he has a fever. With digitally colored brush and ink illustrations, a variety of splashy colors and perspectives, the book is as engaging visually as it is to read.

Doctor Ted celebrates the ingenuity and ambition that makes childhood great, that can-do attitude that lets kids try out all kinds of new things. Children will appreciate the silly situations, fast moving pace, and bright colors, and the story is entertaining enough that parents won't mind reading it again and again.