Grumpy Grinch! Santa Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins

Bruce was a bear who didn't like the holidays.

He used to stay in bed all winter and skip right through the whole business.

But that was back in the good old days before Bruce involuntarily became Mother Bruce Goose, foster parent to three goslings with other ideas about ways to while away the winter.

The goslings and their critter friends demand a cozy holiday family togetherness that is just what Bruce doesn't want for the winter. His goslings had already gotten busy decking the halls, while the mice stirred up some tasty eggnog. What fun! What cheer! What a beautiful Christmas tree!

Bruce didn't like fun. Bruce didn't like cheer.

And he didn't like cold weather. Bruce pulled out his long red flannel underwear and sleeping cap.

Big mistake!

"Are you SANTA CLAUS?" asked a big-eyed little 'coon kid.

And before he knows it, the goslings had lined up the moppets and Bruce was taking little bunnies and raccoons on his knees, listening to their silly Christmas wish lists. To get rid of them, he promised them whatever toys they asked for.

But at last the talkative tots left and Bruce was just headed for his cozy bed when ...

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK! All the parents wanted to thank Bruce for his Christmas spirit. They left, shouting with glee.

Bruce didn't like glee.

But what about the poor little disappointed children?

The goslings and the mice insisted that Bruce cannot disappoint all the children. Will Santa Claus Bruce make his midnight ride?

BAH! HUMBUG! was the word, as the goslings got in harness, flapping wildly, and the wagon on skids lifted off with Santa Bruce reluctantly aboard, in Ryan T. Higgins' latest in his Mother Bruce series, Santa Bruce (Mother Bruce Series) (Disney Hyperion Books, 2018). There's a plentitude of slapstick sight gags, as Santa Bruce get stuck in chimneys and chars the seat of his red underwear pants on the way down, and plenty of dry humor as the goslings ensure that nobody has a niggardly Noel despite their curmudgeonly Father Christmas, Santa Bruce.

Other books in this not-to-be-missed, top-selling series are Mother Bruce, Hotel Bruce (Mother Bruce), and Bruce's Big Move (Mother Bruce) (see reviews here).

Take Me Wit'cha When You Go! Bruce's Big Move (Mother Bruce) by Ryan T. Higgins

Bruce was a bear who lived with four geese because he was their mother.

And three mice, because they would not leave.

It all started in two earlier books when Bruce, the curmudgeonly bachelor bear whose only hobby is as an epicure of fresh eggs, swipes four goose eggs from Mother Goose, all of which hatch as soon as he gets them home and imprint instantly on him. Impromptu Mother Goose Bruce grumpily attempts to be a good goose parent, even taking the goslings south for the winter. But when Mother Bruce and his brood return to his den, he finds it manned by way too many mice who have appropriated it as a popular backwoods inn which is literally a zoo!

Now Bruce has had it with his messy menage, littered with goose toys and assorted wildlife, and he concludes that the only way out is to lose the lot of them and move. Bruce mails his resident mice off to Tasmania, the Mojave Desert, and the Yukon, packs his confused goslings into the sidecar of his motorcycle, and roars off in search of suitable housing sans mice!

Bruce buys a roomy cabin in the deep woods, hoping for solitude and hopefully a bit of hibernation this year, only to discover he has a friendly neighbor, Miz Beaver, eager to offer her thirteen little sisters as perfect playmates for his little geese.

And if that isn't enough, when the mice drive up with all their worldly goods in a truck labeled MUSCULUS MOVERS, Bruce knows that his goose is cooked (and his sorely needed hibernation cancelled), in Ryan T. Higgins' third book in series, Bruce's Big Move (Mother Bruce) (Hyperion Books, 2017). Like it or not, Bruce Bear is stuck with being head of an unruly household, with a lawn party constantly in progress. Higgin's illustrations are hilarious, with the beetled-browed Mother Bruce steadfastly attempting to parent his clueless goslings while trying to rid himself of the manipulative mice he simply can't lose. Mother Goose Bruce is back and primary-graders will welcome the return of his merry menagerie.

Earlier books in this hit series are Mother Bruce, Hotel Bruce (Mother Bruce), and Higgins' companion backstory of the squatter mice, BE QUIET! (See reviews here).

Too Much of A Good Thing? The Bruce Swap by Ryan T. Higgins

There was a forest in front of the little cabin Bruce the curmudgeonly bear shared with three goslings and four mice.

Sure, it's the North Woods, so there are some evergreens around the lake, but Bruce's yard was mostly a forest of signs beginning with the word NO--NO TALKING, NO SWIMMING, NO FISHING, NO CAMPING, NO PICNICKING, NO TRESPASSING...! Bruce was no fun. The mice longed for adventures. The geese just wanted--sandwiches!

ONE MORNING THERE WAS A LETTER IN THE MAILBOX AT 13 GO AWAY LANE!

It was a letter from Bruce's fun-loving cousin Kevin, saying he's coming for a fun-filled vacation. But nobody knew that--because one of the goslings ate the letter. So on the day of fun-loving Kevin's arrival, nobody knew they were about to have guests! Bruce went fishing, leaving a note, but one of the goslings ate that, so nobody knew that either.

So when fun-loving Kevin arrived with outdoor equipment and a bag of sandwiches, the mice and geese thought he was Bruce. But not the party-pooping Bruce they knew. This was a different Bruce.

"ALL OUR WISHES HAVE COME TRUE!" SAID THISTLE.

"WAIT! THIS MUST BE BRUCE'S DOPPELGANGER!" SAID RUPERT.

"DINGLE POOPER?" ASKED NIBB.

But no matter! This version of Bruce was nothing but fun. He gave them all the candy they could eat and then inspired a candy battle. He pulled out a pogo stick and hopped all over the cabin. He ordered endless pizzas. Then he flooded the cabin to make an indoor swimming pool. His rowdy buddies showed up and finished wrecking the cabin, so the party moved outside. Dingle Pooper Bruce taped Rupert to a kite and sent him up for his first flight. The cabin and yard were a dreadful MESS! Since MESS is not fun, fun-loving Kevin and his chums piled into their van and left the premises.

SOME OF THE FUN WAS.... QUESTIONABLE.

"NO MORE FUN! NO, NO, NO! PLEASE!" THE GOSLINGS PLEADED.

THEY ALL WISHED FOR REGULAR BRUCE TO COME BACK!

There's such a thing as too much fun for the mice and goslings, who were actually glad to see the real party-pooper Bruce putt-putting back up the road on his motor skooter, in Ryan T. Higgins' latest in his Mother Bruce series, The Bruce Swap (Disney Press, 2021). (But at least there's plenty of pizza left over!)

Author-illustrator Higgins combines hilarious comic illustrations, oddball family affection, and one of children's literature's greatest grumpy bears in his Mother Bruce series, which began with Mother Bruce (Mother Bruce, Book 1) (Mother Bruce Series, 1)

"A gentle, silly picture book about balancing fun and responsibility," says Kirkus Reviews

Bringing Up Gosling! Mother Goose Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins

Bruce is a recluse.

Bruce is a grouch.

HE DID NOT LIKE SUNNY DAYS.

HE DID NOT LIKE CUTE LITTLE ANIMALS.

BRUCE ONLY LIKED ONE THING--EGGS.

You might say Bruce is a bird watcher. He watches all the birds in the forest, watching for an opportunity to "borrow" their eggs, openly robbing their nests for the delicacies he concocts with his collection of egg recipes borrowed from the internet. One day he comes across an enticing dish, featuring hard-boiled eggs in honey sauce over salmon.

Bruce pulls out his personal shopping cart and sets out to collect the ingredients. He catches some fresh salmon and then relieves the bees of some of their honey.

(HE LIKED TO SUPPORT LOCAL BEES, YOU SEE.)

That only leaves the main attraction--eggs. Luckily, Mrs. Goose has a nice clutch going.

"ARE THESE FREE-RANGE ORGANIC?" HE ASKED.

Back home, Bruce puts the goose eggs in a saucepan to cook, but when he returns with firewood to stoke the stove, he finds four just-hatched goslings standing in a footbath of warm water in the pot.

Now we all know what young birds do when they hatch! Yes! They imprint on the first moving thing they see, and that's ... Mother Goose Bruce!

"MAMA?"

Bruce is nonplussed. He grabs up his gaggle of goslings and heads back to Mrs. Goose's nest to return the defective merchandise. He finds only a sign:

[BE BACK IN APRIL!]

That's not good news. Bruce has got the baby goose blues! They follow him everywhere, despite his stern orders to shoo!

"I'M NOT YOUR MOTHER!"

Perhaps he can induce the geese to migrate. He rigs a slingshot between two saplings to shoot them into a southerly route. No luck. He buys them little single-engine model planes and tries to send them off into the wild blue yonder. They circle back, honking "MAMA!" and wearing warm mufflers and knit caps, all set to winter over with Mother Bruce.

Like it or not, Mother Goose Bruce is stuck raising his little flock. Wearing water wings and swim fins, he dutifully supervises first swimming lessons in their little plastic pool. He books a motel on the beach in Miami, hoping that they'll get the urge to stay south. He suffers through all the usual parental stages:

ANNOYING BABY GEESE.

STUBBORN TEENAGE GEESE.

BORING ADULT GEESE.

It's an unusual blended family, all right, in Ryan T. Higgins hilarious hit, Mother Bruce (Hyperion Books, 2015). Newbie author-illustrator Higgins hits all the marks in this, his first book. His wry and ironic text is pitch perfect in its sly but loving spoof of parenting, and his illustrations are both lovely and comic, opening with a charming woodsy scene reminiscent of Disney's Snow White's forest and beguiling goslings that are kissing-cousin likenesses of Olivier Dunrea's Gossie (Gossie & Friends), and still providing laugh-out loud scenes--game goslings in flight helmets in little open-cockpit airplanes, his "stubborn teenage geese" slouching about with earphones, and Bruce and one grown gosling, stretched out in beach chairs with sunglasses and iced drinks with little umbrellas, while another is followed out of the ocean by a tiny sea turtle, ironically piping "Mama?"

Kids and grownups alike will find a lot to like together in this one, a great family read-aloud. "Visually beautiful, clever, edgy and very funny," says Kirkus' starred review.

The Blowout! Bruce's Big Storm by Ryan T. Higgins

Bruce was not a bear who liked neighbors.

Actually, Bruce doesn't like anybody. In fact, Bruce is a curmudgeonly, self-centered, introverted bear who only likes one thing--hibernating solo.

He once liked eggs, but when he swiped Mrs. Goose's eggs from her nest and put them in a pan of water to boil, he hatched goslings, goslings who imprinted on him and, like it or not, he became... MOTHER GOOSE BRUCE.

Bruce may be anti-social, but he is dutiful. Now living in the North Woods with his brood and their mice pets, Bruce finds that even there he still has neighbors

But none of them stayed very long... until the day of the big storm.

While the winds roar and the tempest rages, all of Bruce's neighbors decide to take shelter in his house. It's a bit crowded. But then Nibbs the mouse spies a little rabbit outside in the storm and he and the duteous Bruce dash out with their umbrella to save the little fellow. But the wind catches the umbrella and the three are all airborne. Are Bruce, Nibbs, and the bunny on a one-way flight to Fairbanks?

It's the neighbors to the rescue, even when Bruce's cabin is blown away, in Ryan T. Higgins' latest installment in the saga of Mother Bruce, Bruce's Big Storm (Mother Bruce Series) (Hyperion, 2019). Ryan T. Higgins' illustrations of the perpetually grumpy but dogged Bruce never fail to get laughs from the picture book set. The New York Times best-selling author's wickedly funny cartooning scores again, just as it did in his super Kindergartner hit, We Don't Eat Our Classmates and the whole Mother Goose Bruce series. (Read reviews here.)

Check Out--Please! Hotel Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins

Bruce was a bear who lived with three geese...

...reluctantly....

Bruce had been a contentedly curmudgeon bachelor bear, until inadvertently a hatch of goslings (at that impressionable age) imprint on him, forcing him to become "Mother Bruce." Raising goslings requires annual migrations southward when Bruce's predilection is to hibernate, but the dour bear does his duty for his brood.

But returning to his beloved den after wintering over at Miami Beach, he finds his home appropriated by a batch of squatter mice who have turned his quaint cave into The North Woods Hotel. His almost-grown goslings cheerfully become bellhops, but Bruce is not a happy camper in his own home.

One guest, a beaver, has his own dining table, which he is cheerfully chewing to shreds. Bruce finds his own bedroom and bed already full--with a moose, raccoon, bunny, three turtles, and a porcupine reclining there. One of his bedmates demands a glass of water, one wants to snuggle, and the turtle in the middle anxiously makes an announcement:

"I have to pee!"

It was a long night.

Morning finds a frog in Bruce's toilet and an aproned Chef Fox in the kitchen, trying to coax the turtles into a steaming tureen as the soup course for dinner.

And then the tour bus full of elephants (and their trunks) arrives, and they all have reservations!

His little liveried goslings rush out to take their luggage.

This was the last straw!

With a ROAR Bruce clears the place, with the interloping critters running for the tall timber, followed by the would-be hotelier mice, Peace and quiet reign inside as rain begins to pour outside. Bruce's goslings softly honk sadly as they watch the mice getting soaked as they seek shelter under an evergreen.

Will "Mother" Bruce relent? The goslings already know that crabby Bruce is an old softie, in Ryan T. Higgins' Hotel Bruce (Hyperion Books, 2016). In this sequel to his hit, Mother Bruce, Higgins brings back his bad-tempered bear in another picture book filled with illustrations loaded with sight gags and the sweet silliness of a grumpy bear who finds his den as full as the old woman who lived in a shoe. "A merry, witty celebration of chaos and grumpiness," rejoices Kirkus Reviews.

School Rules: We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins

Penelope Rex was nervous.

It's not every day a little T. Rex starts to school.

She's got all the necessary school gear. Mom's got her a new backpack and a cool Little Pony lunchbox, packed with 300 tuna sandwiches and a box of apple juice, and she's pretty in pink in her new overalls. But still Penelope worries.

"What are my classmates going to be like? How many teeth will they have?"

But it's Penny's classmates who should be worried. They are all children, and Penelope already knows one thing about children. They are tasty.

So she ate them!

Oops. Her teacher, Mrs. Noodleman, catches her in the act, one Kindergarten-sized shoe still dangling by its shoestring from her mouth.

"Spit them out," she orders firmly.

"We don't eat our classmates!"

A soggy group of kids, dripping disgusting pink-ish dino drool, re-appear, looking piteously at Mrs. Noodleman. Their parents apparently didn't warn them about being eaten for morning snack time.

Penelope pitches in to be a good sport at recess, but the sight of her, mouth wide open, at the bottom of the twisty slide, doesn't inspire confidence in her classmates. She finds that no one accepts her invitation to sit next to her at lunch. So far, making friends isn't on her menu.

After school Penelope reports sadly that no one at school would play with her.

"Sometimes it's hard to make friends, especially if you eat them," Dad points out.

That night Penny snuggles under her beloved pony coverlet (Ponies are tasty!) and thinks about her dad's advice.

But new Kindergartners often find it difficult to curb their impulses, and the new day doesn't start well.

"Mrs. Noodleman! Penelope ate William Omoto again!" someone tattles.

Understandably, the kids keep their distance from Penelope Rex. Lonely, she wanders over to where the class pet, Walter the Goldfish, is swimming happily in his bowl. Maybe at least Walter will be her friend. Penelope sticks one finger into the water.

Walter CHOMPS!

"WAAAHHH!" cries Penelope. "He's EATING my finger!"

Suddenly Penelope discovers the true meaning of the golden rule, in Ryan T. Higgins' latest giggle fest, We Don't Eat Our Classmates (Disney Hyperion Books, 2018). Higgins' best-selling picture books are small masterpieces of dramatic pacing and ironically hilarious illustrative style, and Penelope is a totally cute little T. Rex, a somehow sympathetic character despite that one bad predilection, and kids' tickleboxes will turn over as Walter the Goldfish pointedly delivers the denouement. School rules were never more fun.

Ryan T. Higgins is also the author of the top-selling hits, Mother Bruce, Hotel Bruce (Mother Bruce), and Bruce's Big Move (Mother Bruce) (see reviews here).

Counting Curmudgeon! 1 Grumpy Bruce: A Counting Book by Ryan T. Higgins

Take a pair of interloping skunk house sitters, and a trice of messy partying mice, four greedy goslings, five silly squirrels, and some six trudging turtles, and what do you get?

You might say a grumpy old geezer of a bear--except that Bruce the black bear is always crabbv, so how can you tell what peeves him?

It's doesn't help to add numbers of silly squirrels, peeping birdies, prickly porcupines, and even invading elephants! Hey! Wait! Elephants don't even live in the North Woods!

Nine porcupines, wanting hugs?

Really?

But if there's one thing you can count on to make Mother Goose Bruce even more cantankerous, it's more woodland critters invading his den when he's in the mood to hibernate, and author-illustrator Ryan T. Higgins can be counted on to pull Bruce's chain with increasing numbers of little forest dwellers and one hopelessly out-of-place elephant in his brand-new board book, 1 Grumpy Bruce: A Counting Board Book (Mother Bruce Series) (Disney Hyperion Books, 2018).

Higgin's humorous sight gags make even counting to ten for toddlers ticklebox material, not to mention educational. Certain silliness and good humor make this concept book a good way to introduce Higgins' jolly picture books (see reviews here) to lucky preschoolers, as well as Higgin's Mother Goose Bruce best sellers (reviews here).

Getting By With A Little Help From My Friends! We Will Rock Our Classmates Ryan T. Higgins

Penelope was the only T-Rex in her school. Sometimes that made her stand out a little. And sometimes Penelope's classmates didn't see her at all. They just saw a dinosaur.

Like when Penelope wants to play dentist, her playmates get to be the dentists and she gets to be the ... dinosaur in the dental chair.

And the kid dentists are pretty picky about her dental hygiene.

"Have you been flossing? William Omoto's backpack is stuck in your teeth!"

But when their teacher Mrs. Noodleman tells them it's time to sign up for the big Talent Show, Penelope knows just what she wants to do. She wants to rock her crowd with her guitar! It'll be great--if she can just screw up the courage to sign up under the gaze of their class pet, Walter the Ferocious Goldfish!

But when she does sign up, she overhears her classmates wondering aloud if a dinosaur could even play guitar! Onstage she freezes up and fails the audition. Maybe dinosaurs can't rock and roll.

That night her parents notice that she's only eaten 54 burgers. The next day she sits alone on the bench during recess. Dinosaurs probably can't play Duck! Duck! Goose! either. She slips into the classroom and erases her name off the sign-up sheet.

But her dad guesses what is wrong, and pulls the old family photo album and shows her photos of her uncle the figure skater and her mom the marathon runner, and her dad the Champion Hamburger Eater of the World. All the family were dinosaurs, but they did lots of other stuff, and so can she!

"You're kind and caring and creative!" Dad tells her.

And the next day, Penelope puts on her pink tutu and cowboy boots and puts her name back on the sign-up sheet. Soon she has a fabulous four playing with her band  and rocking the whole school down as Penelope and the Mustard Seeds. She doesn't even mind coming in second to Mabel Haysting and Her Tap-Dancing Pony. Mmmm! Ponies!

Kindergarten is very educational, in Ryan T. Higgins' latest, We Will Rock Our Classmates (Penelope Book 2) (Disney Hyperion Books, 2020), the sequel to his hysterical best-seller, We Don't Eat Our Classmates! (Penelope Book 1). It's not Your Mama's Kindergarten with Penelope the T-Rex in the story circle, and kids will love to adjust to Kindergarten along with Penelope and all her delish, er, delightful classmates to get to know.

Ryan T. Higgins is also the author of the best-selling hilarious series about a grumpy bear and his imprinted flock of goslings in the Mother Bruce (Mother Bruce, Book 1) (Mother Bruce Series (1)).

Three's A Crowd! Norman Didn't Do It! (Yes, He Did!) by Ryan T. Higgins

Norman the porcupine is not really a normal porcupine.

NORMAN'S BEST FRIEND WAS MILDRED.

MILDRED WAS A TREE.

They spend a lot of time together, playing baseball and chess, and birdwatching. (Birds like Mildred, too.) Norman even reads her bedtime stories. They are a perfect pair.

Until one day, Norman noticed a seedling sprouting.

"WHO IS THAT?"

"IT WAS ANOTHER TREE!"

Their perfect pairing was no more. And as the little tree grew, he and Mildred grew close and closer. NOW it was a threesome. And one ominous day, Mildred and the other tree touched branches. Norman is jealous!

THIS IS THE LAST STRAW!

By dark of night, Norman digs up the other tree, deposits him, root ball and all, into a wheelbarrow and pushes it through darkness until he comes to a lake. He rows to an island far out in the middle of the lake, where he digs a hole and re-plants the tree all alone.

THE OTHER TREE WAS GONE.

Norman and Mildred are a twosome again. But their easy companionship is gone. Mildred seems droopy. And Norman knows why.

"WHAT HAVE I DONE?"

"WHAT IF IT WAS THE WRONG THING TO DO?"

Norman also worries that his perfidy might have been seen by someone else. It was dark, very dark, and he saw no one, so who could have observed his dastardly deed?

OMG!

"OH, NO! THE TREES!"

Norman knows what he must do and he does it, in Ryan T. Higgins' latest, Norman Didn't Do It! (Yes, He Did).

Author Higgins' reformed hero even finds that a treesome threesome can provide a good place to hang his hammock! Ryan T. Higgs is a prolific source of comic hits for the primary set, such as Mother Bruce (Mother Bruce, Book 1) (Mother Bruce Series, 1) and We Don't Eat Our Classmates! (Penelope).

Says Publishers Weekly in a starred review, "...an astute and endearing story of displacement anxiety.... Higgins knows exactly when to go in for a close-up and focus on Norman's comic sturm und drang. The porcupine is a protagonist that readers should find deeply relatable: reveling in unconditional love, prone to impulsiveness and rumination, and absolutely capable of self-redemption."

Literary Logorrhea! Be Quiet! by Ryan T. Higgins

Rupert the mouse is an aspiring author who is going for a trendy genre.

"Finally! I get my very own book to star in.

I am going to make a wordless book. They are more artistic.

This book will have no words at all.

STARTING NOW!"

It's not that Rupert and his rodent cohorts, Nibs and Thistle, don't have any literary experience, They have been minor characters, walk-ons, a mousy Greek chorus, so to speak, with limited dialog in Ryan T. Higgins earlier hits, Mother Bruce and Hotel Bruce (Mother Bruce) (see reviews here). But now Rupert is ready to author his own avant garde creation, but his buddies, Nibs and Thistle, didn't seem to get the memo.

"Wowee! said Thistle. "A wordless book! Can I help? Oops! I'm talking.... I'm talking about talking!"

"Shhhh! said Nibs. "The book has already started! You are messing it up!"

"Quiet!" shouted Rupert "This book must be visually stimulating!"

"What does "vishery strigulating" mean?" asked Nibs.

The life of an author is not an easy one, in Ryan T. Higgins' latest, BE QUIET! (Disney Hyperion, 2017). Starrom om a wordless book just can't stop Nibs and Thistle from continuously talking about not talking. Their colloquy strays into the metaphyscial meaning of silence, conjures up a superhero, Captain Quiet, Vocabulary Vigilante, and launches into an extensive discussion of the old question of whether a falling tree makes a noise if no one is there to hear it. Nibs obligingly chops down a tree to check. It falls on Rupert.

"Did the tree make a sound?" Nibs asked.

"Hard to tell with Rupert shouting," said Thistle.

Author-illustrator Higgins' alter-ego, Rupert the mouse, fails in his first literary effort, but Higgins' third book succeeds as a comedic riot, with ironic humor, clueless but endlessly loquacious characters, slapstick action, gleeful sight gags and even a cameo appearance by grumpy bear Bruce and one of his adopted goslings to tie Higgins' series together. Sophisticated yet silly, this one hits a new high in absurdity when Rupert finds himself fiercely yelling...

"No onomatopoeia!"

Says Publishers Weekly, "Higgins breathes emotional life into his characters, visually and verbally, and his smart, laugh-out-loud comedy is expertly paced. Of course the project marches right off the cliff, but watching it go is entertainment gold."

Whose Hatchlings Are They? Daddy Honk Honk! by Rosalinde Bonnet

IT IS THE END OF SUMMER IN THE ARCTIC. SNOW WILL SOON COVER THE TUNDRA.

EVERYONE IS ENJOYING THE LAST SUNNY DAYS.

Aput the Arctic fox is catching those last warm rays, feeling his fur grow warm as he lies on his back and sleepily watches the Canada geese flocking up to fly south, Suddenly he spots something left behind.

It's a speckled goose egg, slow to hatch.

But when Aput picks it up, the shell cracks right down the middle and a tiny blue goose pokes his head out, opens his eyes, sees Aput, and says...

"DADDY HONK HONK!"

Yep. Baby geese imprint on the first thing they see, and for this gosling, Aput is his parent! The fox's first response is to protest.

"I AM NOT YOUR DADDY!"

But the baby goose is a total cutie, and Aput is charmed. He sets off to find the gosling a family and fortunately, there are plenty of other tundra sunbathers who are all too eager to give him parental advice. A mother lemming is up to her eyebrows with babies, but she does have an extra fuzzy pink cap to offer, pointing out that it is very important to keep new babies warm. Olaf and Lilly the musk oxen offer some seedy grass to feed the baby, and the gosling chows down right away.

"DADDY CHOMP CHOMP!"

Nanook the Polar Bear is trying to do her morning yoga meditation. She's annoyed by the honking, and suggests that Aput needs to put that baby down for a nap posthaste. As Aput makes his charge a grassy cradle, Granny Puffin puts in her two-cents' worth of parental advice.

"YOU SHOULD ROCK HIM!" SHE SUGGESTS.

But the gosling is too excited to sleep, and seeing someone in the water, she jumps in, right on the belly of a sleeping walrus and slides down his tummy into the sea, which she takes to like an, er, gosling to water. Soon she is joined by a young narwhal, and the pool party begins.

"DADDY SPLISH SPLASH!"

"YOU MUST ALWAYS KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BABY!" CAUTIONS EDDA THE WHALE, FLIPPING THE BABY BACK TO APUT WITH HER FLUKE.

Finally the baby goose begins to tucker out, and Aput pulls out Andersen's Wild Swans as a bedtime story. All his friends gather round to listen as the sun sets over the tundra. It is a lovely scene.

"THIS BABY NEEDS A BEAUTIFUL NAME!" THEY ALL AGREE.

And Aurora it is, as the no-longer orphaned gosling settles down, surrounded by her new family, in Rosalinde Bonnet's charming Daddy Honk Honk! (Dial Books, 2017). This tale of accidental parenthood has a lot to say about being a father and about being an adoptive parent, but also about how it often "takes a village" to provide all a young one needs to grow up. Bonnet's story is humorous, filled with a recurring chorus of "Daddy Honk Honks," and a plentitude of advice from Aput's opinionated neighbors, but there's a warm reassurance for youngsters that little Aurora will have everything she needs to grow in her new home.

Bonnet's artwork is simple, done mostly in blackline drawings that border on the minimal, contrasted with the bright colors of flowers in the background. Illustrator Bonnet paces the story with cartoon-paneled pages set against contrasting full two-page spreads which show off the blooming tundra, the setting sun over the ocean, and the blended blues and greens of the northern lights that give little Aurora her name, or as Publishers Weekly puts it succinctly, "The ink-and-watercolor drawings are a mixture of atmospheric minimalism and impressive detail." This is a sweet story of love lost and found that fortuitously ends with the baby sleeping soundly for a very good goodnight.

Share this story with Ryan T. Higgins' hilarious hatchling goose hit, Mother Bruce (see review here.)

The Fire This Time: Armageddon Summer by Jane Yolen and Bruce Coville

Faith and family are the intertwined themes of Armageddon Summer, set in July of the millennial year. Award-winning authors Jane Yolen and Bruce Coville co-wrote the book, Yolen narrating the story through the thoughts and word of Marina, a girl who turns fourteen on the fateful day, and Coville creating the character of Jed, a slightly older boy on the fringe of the group of believers.

Marina struggles to push back her doubts and live the role of a true believer, to follow the teachings of Rev. Beelson, the charismatic leader who has prophesied that only 144 of his chosen will survive when the fires of Armageddon begin and consume all those left below. Marina's mother is completely under the spell of Beelson, and her attention has turned away from her children to focus solely on the man and his teachings.

Jed does not believe in the coming Armageddon, but has come out of love for his father, whose wife has left him for another man and whose college-age daughter has refused to follow them to the mountain. When Jed and Marina meet, they are drawn to each other instantly, each sensing the other's doubt and needing someone to whom to reveal their silent questions. Watched constantly, they can only meet briefly at night, but in their brief time together the two form a strong bond.

Jed becomes more and more disturbed as he watches Beelson order the construction of a barbed and electrified fence to keep the "Brethren" inside and the rest of the world out. As the day of prophecy arrives, a crowd of "Last Minute Christers" begging entrance surround the gate, swollen by numbers of estranged parents demanding the release of their children inside. As the armed crowd grows more and more angry, the local police call for reinforcements to control a violent showdown as midnight of what Rev. Beelson declares to be the Last Day approaches.

Brief chapters which consist of police records, local radio broadcasts, and FBI transmissions are interspersed with the alternating narratives of Jed and Marina, a device which adds to the realism and tension of the story. Co-authors Yolen and Coville use their different voices to create two diverse but realistic characters. Jed and Marina emerge as very believable teens caught up in a situation not of their making but within which they must come of age as they struggle with the ultimate questions of life and death.

Groundhog Roundup III: Gregory Groundhog Predicts the Weather by Bruce Koscielniak

Bruce Koscielniak takes a humorous look at the media in his spoof of groundhog hoopla in his picture book Geoffrey Groundhog Predicts the Weather.

Sure, Geoffrey Groundhog listened to his mother's advice about what to do on February 2. But when nobody shows up to get his opinion of the big day (no more winter!) Geoffrey takes it to another level, trotting down to the Mooseflats County Daily Gazette to pitch his weather report to the editor. When the newspaper headlines his prediction and its readers rejoice in the return of spring, Geoffrey becomes the darling of the media. His smiling face is featured on billboards and the sides of buses, advertising everything from toothpaste to Groundhog Brand Jogging Shoes. "Predicting the weather is easy," Geoffrey brags.

When the next winter rolls around, Daily Gazette editor Merton Moose lines up full media coverage for Geoffrey's Going Out event. Merchants proclaim Groundhog Day sales, television cameras and lights are set up around his burrow, and crowds of citizens gather with pom poms and signs to welcome Geoffrey's appearance.

Unfortunately, Geoffrey's clock doesn't go off in the morning, and when he awakens late, he is so discombobulated by the blaze of lights and camera flashes when he appears that he can't tell whether he has a shadow or not. The Daily Gazette has to run a disappointing headline in its morning edition:

GROUNDHOG DOESN'T HAVE A CLUE!

Spinning the belated event like the media maven he is, Geoffrey promises a prediction at an afternoon press conference, where he confidently predicts six more weeks of winter. When interviewed about the basis of his belated prediction, however, Geoffrey has to confess that he consulted an expert. "I called my mom," he admits.

Koscielniak's spoof of the media hype around Punxsutawney Phil's annual appearance is ably assisted by his ink and watercolor illustrations of the small town media guys and the scenic snowy surroundings of Mooseflats County.

No Regrets! Martha Doesn't Say Sorry! by Samantha Berger

There are many things Martha does, but apologize isn't one of them.

She does give hugs; she does share her snacks.

She does make presents. She does read stories.

But Martha doesn't say sorry.

In her little pink frock with the Peter Pan collar, Martha looks like quite the little lady--a neat and petite little otter who appears quite perfect.

But it seems Martha has a bit of a not so nice streak: she "spills" cake batter all over her mother's apron on purpose; she "paints" her father's back bright red when he lets her help him paint a kitchen chair; and she rips into a drum solo just when her little brother is napping. Even when sent to do a well-deserved timeout, and even though she feels a bit repentant, Martha just can't bring her self to say that word--"Sorry!" With her snout high in the air, Martha is a holdout!

Wisely, Martha's family know how to be holdouts too! When Martha wants a fresh, hot cookie, her mom makes it clear there are no cookies for people who can't say sorry. Turning her back, she transfers the goodies to the cookie jar and puts it away. Dad makes it clear that he doesn't give piggyback rides to people who can't say sorry, and her baby brother has no hugs for people who don't show penitence for nap spoiling.

FINE!

Martha responds loud and clear and with snout elevated even more, shows that she can do without cookies, piggyback rides, and hugs from anyone!

But as the lonely day winds it way on, Martha thinks about it. And thinks about it. And finally whispers very quietly...

I'M SORRY!

Nobody seems to notice Martha's weak attempt to make amends.

"I'M SORRY."

"What?" says her mother. "What?" says her father. "FWA?" says her baby brother.

"I'M ... S O R R Y!"

Martha makes amends at last, and the lesson is--at least partly--learned, and she finds she can, when she's not so nice, say sorry as nicely as she possibly can.

Samantha Berger's Martha Doesn't Say Sorry, very ably assisted by the nuanced illustrations of pro Bruce Whatley, makes its point about the power of apology effectively through its simple text, with not a wasted word, and its appealing pictures. For example, there is Martha, sweetly reading to her baby brother from her favorite wizardly fantasy, Harry Otter, and then there's Martha, nose in the air, stonewalling and saying to herself in clear body language, "Who needs them!" And finally there's Martha, clearly arriving at the answer to her own question with a "Me. That's who!"

In fact, Martha Doesn't Say Sorry, seems a fine companion piece to Kevin Leman's how-to for perplexed parents, Have a New Kid by Friday: How to Change Your Child's Attitude, Behavior & Character in 5 Days reviewed here back in March, in which he proposes this exact strategy for dealing with obstreperous offspring.

Delve Deep: Dark Whispers (Unicorn Chronicles III) by Bruce Coville

The Chiron gazed down at Cara. ... It's often the case that our most intimate enemies are rooted in our own darkness. The delvers are dwarfs bent and shaped by the Whisperer. And the Whisperer is a living thing, formed from the unicorns, pulled from their own hearts.... This is why delvers are drawn to unicorns at the same time that they despise them.

They burn with hatred yet also with a deep desire to connect.

Bruce Coville's long-awaited third book in the Unicorn Chronicles, Dark Whispers (Unicorn Chronicles) has both satisfied and teased his legions of fantasy fans.

In plot, characterization, and setting, this book exists in media res: As the murderous powers of Beloved plan their attack during the Blood Moon, young teen heroine Cara, granddaughter of the Unicorn queen and daughter of one of the vengeful Beloved's Hunters sworn to destroy the unicorns, is sent on a mission by her grandmother Amalia Flickerfoot to learn the secret of the enmity from the king of the Centaurs. With her go Lightfoot the unicorn prince, Grumwold the Dwarf, and Medafil the Griffon. Captured by the delvers and imprisoned in their underground kingdom, Cara befriends a rebel delver she calls Rocky, and together the two escape the subterranean maze of tunnels and complete her quest, only to find that they must rush to the unicorns' Autumnhaven to help fight the final battle.

In a parallel storyline, Cara's father Ian Hunter, who has broken with the evil Beloved, travels to the Himalayas with a special portkey jewel and the mission of releasing his wife, Cara's mother Martha, daughter of Queen Amalia, from the Rainbow Prison. Ian Hunter's hope is to free her and gain her powers in the ultimate confrontation between the forces of Beloved and the unicorns.

Alas for his readers, that final battle is reserved for what may be the final volume in the series. Coville carefully braids together the many story lines left mostly untold in the first two books into a leisurely exposition which gradually tightens into a page-turning adventure ending on the eve of the final confrontation. The sole unknown left for the last sequel is the nature of the dark entity known only as "the Whisperer," who is the prime mover of the apocalyptic battle to come. Echoes of J. R. R. Tolkien abound in this skillfully constructed "middle earth" universe in which Cara is at the very center of the web of complexity. A compelling character not unlike Harry Potter, she is the mystical hero-heir, the great unknown, and the nexus of the series.

Coville's faithful followers, many who began with Book I, Into The Land Of The Unicorns (Unicorn Chronicles) and Book 2, Song Of The Wanderer (Unicorn Chronicles), years ago will race through this one with the joy of unwinding a major part of the story mixed with the sadness of discovering they must wait for another volume to reach the story's core. Book IV, The Last Hunt, is promised for publication by Scholastic Press early in 2010.