A picture book with lots of child appeal. When a young girl loses her best toy, she plays detective to find it. After consulting other family members to no avail, she follows her sister's suggestion to throw another stuffed animal on the chance that it will land in the same place. The ploy uncovers lots of other lost items but no bear. The mystery is solved when the child goes to bed and her mother lifts up the covers. Hand-lettered text, dialogue balloons, and the breezy line of Feiffer's recognizable style of illustration form the perfect vehicle for this familiar story. The first-person voice realistically conveys the narrator's emotions and dilemma in a way to which children will relate. Effective use of comic-strip panels and frames along with double-page spreads heighten the tension and build to the satisfying conclusion. Both girl and story are winners.?Julie Cummins, New York Public Library Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.