Titles for a discriminating 2-year-old

A certain 2-year-old boy, precious and precocious, came to stay with us for almost a week.

When his parents returned to claim him, I was sad to relinquish that joyful, busy little person. One of the best aspects of having him for a stretch of time was that we could read more books. (Before bedtime, before naps, at lunch, waiting on the potty ... whenever).

This child's older brother had favorite titles at age 2, so I started with those (the "Carl" series, the "McDuff" series). This child was not interested. He was decisive about making his own choices. These are the four books that intrigued him over and over again:

--"Where's Walrus?" by Stephen Savage is a wordless picture book about an enterprising walrus that escapes from the zoo and eludes the zookeeper with many clever and funny disguises. The ending is a perfect win-win for the walrus and his keeper.

--"Beaver is Lost" by Elisha Cooper is one of my all-time favorite wordless picture books. This satisfying story is about a beaver that leaves his home by climbing onto a floating log. He scrapes his way through many harrowing adventures and finds his way back to his family. The New York Times Book Review calls Cooper's illustrations, "essentially perfect."

--"Mini Racer" by Kristy Dempsey features 12 little racers, each vying for first place. The mouse in his cheese car, the rabbits in their carrot car, the monkey in his banana car, the owl in his tree car -- over bumps, around curves, taking pit stops and finishing with a surprise winner. The illustrations reveal something new with each reading. It's similar to "Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go," but also delightfully different.

--"Scare a Bear" by Kathy-jo Wargin is a rollicking, rhyming story about campers who eventually learn exactly how to scare a bear. "Would you shout? Would you yell? Would you ring a loud bell?" What if that pesky bear wanted to sleep with you or go fishing in your boat? The friendly park ranger is very clear about what needs to be done.

If these four titles fail to resonate with your discriminating 2-year-old, try "Funny Face" by Nicola Smee and "Big and Little" by John Stadler.

Reach Fran Hawk at franbooks@yahoo.com.