Although the second in the series about these two characters, this is actually the third I have read, as I picked up the sixth, A Christmas for Bear, this past holiday season. Like the first book about the doings of this adorable duo and their hilarious interactions, A Birthday for Bear pairs an engaging, well-written story from American author Bonny Becker with cute, expressive artwork from Canadian illustrator Kady MacDonald Denton. Although rebuffed at every turn, Mouse keeps at it, until (predictably) his curmudgeonly ursine friend realizes he might be interested in birthdays after all.
Knocking on his front door, then his back, then his window, Mouse attempts to deliver birthday cards, presents and cake to Bear, who is keeping busy with chores. Irascible Bear, who is decidedly NOT interested in birthdays, finds that his irrepressible little murine friend - "small and gray and bright-eyed" - once again doesn't know how to take no for an answer. But I might just be weird that way, so definitely form your own conclusions! I still think this is a must-read- Becker's characterization and dialogue skills are amazing :) And I love Bear and Mouse!īear and Mouse return in this second delightful picture-book devoted to their adventures, following upon the marvelous A Visitor for Bear. In any case, I liked this follow-up, but I was so struck with the format change, so disjointed by it, I had trouble enjoying the book as much as I wanted to. Why? Did they want Bear and Mouse to progress with the audience (which is kind of ingenious, if you think about it) from picture books to easy readers? Did they want to turn the twosome into an easy-reader friend duo, a la Frog And Toad or Cork And Fuzz? Were they trying to hit both markets for wider appeal? And then I wondered, are there other character/series that do this? But we all had to crowd around and squint! We wanted to enjoy Bear and Mouse's further antics together, as a read-aloud, as we did the first time around.Īnd it seemed wordier than it needed to be- like it started out as a picture book text, and then they decided to do the format change and up the word count to the easy-reader range. An easy reader by nature is harder to share- as it should be, since it is meant to be read by an emergent reader on his own. While it is an equally lovely story, with more of the same gorgeous illustrations, I missed the heft! I missed the nice, large canvas for the illustrations. This sequel, A Birthday For Bear, is an easy-reader format book. It is a sumptuous picture book- 56 pages and wide, it is a lovely size and length to showcase a simple and delightful story with perfect pacing and knock-out illustrations. A Visitor For Bear was one of my favorite picture books of 2008. This is the most perplexing book I've seen this year.
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