Caring is what Counts

The Care Bears travel from Care-a-Lot to rescue a runaway boy named Kevin from Professor Coldheart, whose whole scheme is to drain people of feelings — which is an age-appropriate way to frame a villain for four-to-eight-year-olds. The pro-social message about empathy and emotional openness is stated clearly without being heavy-handed by the series' standards. For children who grew up in the 1980s, this is a warm nostalgia item; for new young readers, it functions as a simple, wholesome story with familiar characters. The honest caveats: this is a product tie-in book, and it shows. The plot is transparent and moralistic, and by contemporary children's literature standards the storytelling feels dated. Best enjoyed as the charming artifact it is.