Motherhood is full of surprises. I know that there were many experience that I was not expecting when I became a mother, some of which were hard, and some of which were delightful. I can only imagine what it would be like to experience these things if one is not expecting to be a mother at all. In this picture book you will meet a very grumpy male bear who ends up becoming a mother. A reluctant mother it is true, but a mother nonetheless.
Mother Bruce
Mother Bruce
Ryan T. Higgins
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Hyperion, 2015, 978-148473088-1
Bruce is a grumpy bear who lives by himself. He does not like sunny days, or rainy days,
or cute little animals because he is such a big grump about just about
everything. The only think Bruce does like is eggs. He goes out and collects
them and then cooks them, using “fancy” recipes that he finds on the Internet.
One day Bruce
decides to make boiled goose eggs drizzled with honey-salmon sauce. He gets
some salmon and honey and then steals four of Mrs. Goose’s eggs. Bruce starts
to prepare his boiled eggs when the fire in his stove goes out. By the time he
gets wood to stoke up the stove the four eggs have hatched and the little
goslings think that Bruce is their “MAMA!”
Bruce is very
disgruntled by this unexpected turn of events. He prepares goslings on toast
but for some reason cannot seem to eat the goslings, who look at him
questioningly. Bruce then tries to take the goslings back to their mother, but
she has headed south early and her nest is empty. Bruce leaves the goslings in
the nest and heads for home, and the goslings follow him. Bruce tells them that
he is not their mother. He runs away. He climbs a tree. Nothing he does makes
the slightest bit of difference. As far as the goslings are concerned, Bruce is
their mother, even if he “is a HE and HE is a bear.”
This hilarious
picture book explores how one very grumpy bear ends up becoming the mother of
four very demanding goslings. Bruce dearly regrets the day when his meal
hatched, but there is nothing that he can do except to make the best of things.
Which is what he does, bless his grumpy bearish heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment