This story of a well-loved, fraying stuffed toy features a protagonist suffering heartbreaking sadness and misery. An endearing stuffed bear takes stock of his deterioration and has childlike fears that he will soon be discarded. The terrors of being in the basement, tossed in a thrift-shop sale, or becoming a dust rag overwhelm him. During Bear’s efforts to avoid becoming more worn, the newer stuffed toys cruelly predict his fate. Readers will be riveted; Bear’s anxiety is almost unbearable, so he goes to the garbage can, to wait to be picked up. His owner, Clara, retrieves him and produces a splendid red suit, designed to preserve and protect him. Carmichael (Bear at the Beach, 1996) strikes a chord with children or anyone else who has kept quiet about a source of fear. The spare illustrations present clean, focused scenes; each one highlights the crucial emotion or situation portrayed. In candy colors of blue, lilac, and yellow, the pictures realize all the frightening possibilities a bear can dream up. A joyous ending, in which Bear admires himself “all morning in the mirror,” brings great relief, as well as a message of love and loyalty. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 1-55858-901-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81175-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
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