GRIZZLY DAD

When Dad wakes up one morning, he is in a GRRRRIZZLY mood, and after grrroaning, grrrizzling and GRRRUMPing, he goes back to bed where he can’t do any more damage. Mum goes out with the other sibs, telling her son to check on his dad, which the boy does with some trepidation—well-founded, as it turns out, as Dad has turned into a genuine (bespectacled and pajama’d) grizzly bear. While his bear-dad’s table manners are lacking, however, he’s huge fun on an outing, and father and son end up having “the best day EVER.” Harrison’s illustrations make the most of her absurd plot, sprawling appropriately all over the oversized pages and supplying plenty of subtext for readers to enjoy. In a season full of saccharine, this is the real thing. (Picture book. 4-8)