Review by Booklist Review
Ages 4^-7. A bear fancies himself a storybook hero, but an unidentified author places him in unsatisfying situations such as "Once upon a time there was a bear. The End." Frustrated, the bear takes over, writing--and delightfully fracturing--fairy tales familiar and outrageous. A penguin, princess, sausage, and four-and-twenty black bears also get opportunities for starring roles, as do the villainous troll, wolf, and dragon. After more adventures, heroics, and tasty treats, the satisfied bear is happily carried off to bed. This whimsical, charming book is filled with hilarious nonsequiturs and inventive plot twists with much kid appeal. Characters interact and converse with themselves and the reader, often interrupting the action to comment on the direction of events. Brightly colored, detailed illustrations provide apt accompaniment, placing the disparate characters in lively, chaotic scenarios with witty results. Surprises and absurdity abound in this sure-to-please, lighthearted read. --Shelle Rosenfeld
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The creators of Mockingbird here serve up an appetizing series of "Once upon a time..." short takes that lead whimsically into one another. The title character offers a disparaging commentary on the initial entries ("What's going on?"; "This is ridiculous"), then decides he will take over the writing. The ursine hero puts himself in the spotlight as he rescues Red Riding Hood and her grandmother from the wolf, bests the troll under a bridge and ties up a dragon that is "eating everything--left, right, and center--and setting fire to things." As part of his reward, the victorious bear receives the princess's hand in marriage, though the pigtailed royal will have none of it ("Anyway, I'm not marrying a bear"). In turn, she pens her own tale, in which she shirks footmen, French maids and princes and moves "into an apartment with a couple of friends, started a career in television--and went shopping." In addition to the villains, a penguin and a sausage who aspires to be a chef play supporting roles in this kid-tickling, episodic narrative that mixes familiar and never-before-seen characters (a sausage that cooks?), plot twists and bustling watercolor and pencil art into a silly and satisfying stew. Ages 6-8. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-After a few false starts-"Once upon a time there was a bear. The End"-a young cub spins his own tale. He casts himself as the hero, rescuing Red Riding Hood, punching out a troll causing traffic problems, putting out a dragon's fire, and freeing the captive princess. At this point, the princess pipes up and gives her version of events, followed by "The Wolf, the Troll and the Dragon." The silliness just keeps escalating with various characters making their own smart-aleck asides and observations. The King goes on TV and offers a refrigerator, a three-piece living room set, and a Toyota as prizes for slaying the dragon. The book design adds comedy with its variety of typefaces and pictures of different sizes popping up from all angles. To best appreciate the humor, listeners should know the stories being parodied. The lively watercolor cartoons will appeal to young children, but the book is too long for them and there are many pictures and words that would need explaining. Fourth graders could enjoy the humor and situations, but it is unlikely that the title and format would attract them. However, for the right reader, this will be a hit.-Marlene Gawron, Orange County Library, Orlando, FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Primary) Here's a head-spinning collection of tales begun and interrupted and begun all over again for which Each Peach Pear Plum and The Jolly Postman-which also featured inventively interacting folktale characters-were merely jumping-off points. A small bear wakes up in the morning expecting to be the star of a good story, but the storyteller is a dud. (First two stories, in toto: ""Once upon a time there was a bear. The End"" and ""Once upon a time there was another bear. The End."") ""What's going on?"" entreats the bear. ""This is no fun."" When the maverick storyteller starts ""The Sausage,"" our bear, who has previously appeared standing in clean white space, interacting with the printed text and not much else, has had enough. He peels back the edge of the white page to reveal a homey room outfitted with chair, table, and typewriter, and sits down to tap out his own terribly conventional and yet idiosyncratic tale (in which he, ""the bravest ever bear,"" slays a dragon with a fire engine and is promised not only the princess's hand in marriage but also a four-wheel-drive Toyota and a three-piece living-room set). After this, the entirely unconventional princess featured in the bear's story takes over (her happily-ever-after includes a career in television, shopping, and absolutely no princes), and then it's the turn of a dragon, a troll, and finally a penguin. Throughout, the characters address the reader and one another, comment on the stories, and worry about their literary lives (""I don't like this book,"" says the princess, running from a page scorched with dragon fire). Some of the stories introduce familiar fairy-tale characters such as Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandma; the illustrations welcome many more. After much riotously convoluted storytelling, the book culminates in a star-studded banquet-with the Frog Prince, the Gingerbread Man, Puss in Boots, et al.-and the satiated bear goes happily to bed, surrounded by large type and clean white space once more. (The princess has meanwhile sneaked out of the book, suitcase in hand.) This is radical change at its most lighthearted, silly best, with the seemingly short attention spans of the interrupted stories belying the detail and interconnectedness of the book design, the illustrations, and the stories themselves. Though it may look babyish at first glance, young deconstructionists who stick with it will be richly rewarded (and no, I don't mean with a four-wheel-drive Toyota). m.v.p. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Dissatisfied with their given roles, a cast of folktale supporting players takes over the plot of this deliciously fractured story from Ahlberg (The Mysteries of Zigomar, 1997, etc). After demands for something juicier from the unseen author land him opposite a penguin, a sausage, and four-and-twenty black bears baked in a pie, a small bear remakes himself into a Hero'but the captive princess he rescues has other ideas, as do the menacing troll, and a cigar-smoking dragon. Howard (A Year in the City, 1996, etc.) places his rambunctious characters into sketchy, free-floating scenes dotted with escapees from other familiar stories. In the end, Troll and his cohorts are subdued by four-and-twenty black bears, and, after a grand feast, Bear is carted off, groaning, 'Put me to bed but don't bend me.' That leaves Penguin in control of the typewriter. Adults will laugh alongside children as each turn of the page takes the tale in a radically different direction. For the fractured fairy tale fans of the world. (Picture book. 6-8)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
