THE BEAR OUT THERE

Part “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” part The Monster at the End of This Book, all fun.

The red-headed, light-skinned narrator immediately breaks the fourth wall, screaming bloody murder under the premise that readers have knocked on the door. Why the alarm? Perched on an overstuffed chair, a flashlight illuminating the child’s face, the narrator warns of the titular “BEAR out there.” On the ensuing pages, the protagonist shows readers dubious “proof” of the bear’s presence in the woods to hilarious effect, with the bold collage and acrylic illustrations working double time with changes in perspective, expressive color, and energetic linework to enhance the child’s outrageous claims and dramatic emotions. Lo and behold, it turns out there is a bear out there, and when the animal arrives at the house, the narrator crashes through a window to escape. Now it’s the bear’s turn to tell the story, and the animal makes it clear just whose house it really is. “Believe it or not, break-ins happen all the time,” the furry creature says on a page showing a close-up of a book entitled Goldilocks: Friend or Fiend? The bear proceeds to offer tea—this is a kindly bear and a good host indeed. A final twist shows the original narrator monetizing the ursine encounter with a new book, I Survived a Real Bear: A Memoir.

Feisty fractured fairy-tale fun.