Mr. Tweed’s Good Deeds

Stoten’s find-the-hidden-object spreads look like cheerful ’60s album cover art. They feature Mr. Tweed, a long-eared, bespectacled dog in a stovepipe hat, as well as hundreds of animals, plants, buildings, and vehicles. While the prose is anodyne (“ ‘It feels good to help people,’ Mr. Tweed thought to himself, as he left the park”), the fun of helping Mr. Tweed search for his friends’ lost possessions will keep readers happily occupied. The objects (“Can you turn the page and see if you can spot 7 floating flowers?”) are evenly distributed across the pages, with no effort to deceive or mislead. Visual interest is plentiful, as unexpected elements appear alongside predictable ones. One of the trees in a forest is a giant leg. Sea serpents, whales, and a famous yellow submarine cruise a river. Mr. Tweed rides a green rhinoceros. Yet the elements of civilization and the contented faces of the animals convey a sense of ordered calm, and the spreads are so absorbing that readers will happily revisit them even after they’ve located all the hidden pineapples and goldfish. Ages 3–7. (Nov.)