AN UNLIKELY PAIR

Eleven-year-old human Molly befriends a big, brown bear and helps him overcome his many fears.

When Bear squeezes through a window while Molly’s parents are out, they’re both startled, but Bear is more afraid of Molly than she is of him. Self-possessed, can-do Molly assuages Bear’s fear and decides to hide him in her room, where she teaches him to meditate. She also calls best friend Harper for backup. Pink-haired Harper shares Molly’s ethos (“We are amazing and can do anything we set our minds to!”), and the two spend the summer with their new friend Bear, hiding him from Molly’s parents in increasingly hilarious places. When school starts, Bear convinces Molly to bring him along, but classmate Max reacts extremely negatively, leading anxious Bear to run away and hide under the bed. Molly and Harper are ready to protest against what they perceive as Max’s bullying—they have a history of speaking up for positive change—but after Bear shares his story of encountering a bully in the woods named Bambi, the friends consider—and uncover—the reason for Max’s behavior. Ultimately, it’s Bear who helps Molly face Max at school: “I wanted to help Molly more than I wanted to be afraid.” Full of verbal and visual humor as well as energy and empathy, this is an excellent mismatched (yet perfectly matched) buddy comedy with art that’s reminiscent of classic comic strips. Central characters are light-skinned.

Rollicking good fun.