Review by New York Times Review
"MY goodness, what's the matter?" I once asked a 5-year-old boy who was sitting at the edge of a Sunday school group and staring morosely into space. "I don't like bears" he told me. "They have mean eyes." Not in picture books, they don't. In picture books, bears tend to have either small eyes that twinkle with kindness or large, flat button eyes that regard the world with calm docility. Bears are never the bad guys in picture books, though the one in "A Visitor for Bear," by Bonny Becker, starts out as a grump. Bear has a lovely old Tudor cottage (as illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton), with a beehive design on the fire screen and a basket of apples under the green pump in the kitchen, but he doesn't want anyone to come inside. To make his point clear, he has put up a No Visitors Allowed sign on his front door. After chasing a mouse away, Bear sets his bee-printed tablecloth with one cup and one spoon, just the way he likes it. "But when he opened the cupboard to get one bowl ... there was the mouse! Small and gray and bright-eyed." The mouse suggests a spot of tea, but Bear shows him the door. Undaunted, the mouse keeps turning up - dancing on a loaf of bread, sitting in an egg carton. ("A crackling fire?" the mouse hints.) Though Bear plugs the tub and stops up the chimney, the mouse persists until Bear finally offers him some tea. "They sat for a long while. The clock in Bear's house ticked loudly." By the time the mouse is ready to leave, Bear of course wants him to stay, and they go back inside for some more tea "A Visitor for Bear" has the feel of a classic, and it's so cozy no parent could object to reading it aloud every night. The angular scarf-wearing star of "Bear's Picture," by Daniel Pinkwater, is stubborn in a different way: he wants to paint a picture. "First he made an orange squiggle. Then he had a look at it. 'I believe it wants some blue,' said the bear. And he painted some blue." Sounds good, but the "fine, proper gentlemen" - both painted in gray and black - don't get it. "Bears aren't the sort of fellows who can do whatever they like," they say. As the bear adds more and more colors, the gentlemen try to figure the picture out. A butterfly? A clown? No, the bear tells them. "It is a honey tree. ... It is a cold stream in the forest." It's a picture of the things bears like, and the two gray gentlemen will never understand. But the bear is happy, and his paint-spattered necktie is as colorful as his art. I can't tell if kids will take "Bear's Picture" to heart. Though faultless in their own way, the text and the illustrations (by D.B. Johnson) veer toward the realm of Sophisticated Grown-Up Picture Books - stories that graphic designers who boycott licensed toys want their kids to like. But there are certainly plenty of parents like that, and they will love "Bear's Picture." I would bet that "Wonder Bear," by Tao Nyeu, is going to be a big deal. It's a wordless dream about two children who plant two packets of seeds. One packet bears a picture of a watermelon; the other, a picture of a top hat. As the children sleep - their bed conveniently outside, next to their garden - the top-hat seeds sprout into a huge magic plant covered with looping vines and orange flowers. Out of one of these flowers steps the top-hatted white Wonder Bear. He reaches into the hat and pulls out a batch of monkeys, who quickly form a pyramid. The bear shoots the two children out of a cannon right to the top before he blows a swarm of soapbubble lions who chase the monkeys away, after which Wonder Bear turns the sky into the sea, and the two children ride away on a dolphin king while an octopus carries the monkeys. Then it's nighttime again, and the bear tucks the children back into bed while the monkeys climb back into the magic plant. (While all this was going on, the seeds from the other packet have grown into large watermelons.) Wonder Bear steps into his hat and floats away, presumably into the world of picture-book history. In Brenda Z. Guiberson's "Ice Bears," we turn from fictional bears to realistic ones. Against a backdrop of beautiful swirly snow (in watercolors by Ilya Spirin), a female polar bear digs a nesting den, gives birth to twin cubs and gradually introduces them to their new world of daylight, wolves and finally the frozen ocean. (When the mother teaches her cubs to hunt, Guiberson tactfully uses the words "blubber" and "bones" rather than "killed seal.") Lemmings, mosquitoes and bumblebees share summertime with the bears until the welcome winter comes again. "Finally the ice bears can return to the ice, ready to fatten up on seals during the long cold winter ahead." In "Wonder Bear," seeds sprout into a magic plant covered with orange flowers. As that last sentence shows, it's not quite clear what age the author wants to reach. The book's size, format and sound effects - "Honk! Honk! Kree!" - seem meant for preschoolers, but grade-school statistics sometimes bump up against the story of this mother bear and her cubs. ("Slurpslurp. She nurses them often. As she loses weight, they grow plump on her rich, creamy milk that is 30 percent fat.") "Ice Bears" would work best as a firstor second-grade classroom book. It was born to inspire book reports - the kind that are taped into folders made of construction paper. The "Arctic Ice Report" at the book's end is terribly sad, but it's followed by a directory of environmental groups working to reduce global warming. Which is important, because picture books that introduce global-size fears should also equip young readers with the tools to address the problem. Despair has no place in a picture book. Grown-ups may suspect that there will never again be enough ice for the ice bears - but children can't be allowed to feel that way. Children need to believe that polar bears, with their nice eyes, will always be around if only we work a little harder. Ann Hodgman's most recent book is "The House of a Million Pets."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 27, 2009]
Review by Booklist Review
In this wordless picture book, a young boy and girl plant a garden that sprouts overnight into a sky-high tangle of flowering blue and green vines. From the most magnificent of the blossoms emerges Wonder Bear, an enormous white bear with a magical top hat that conjures up a multitude of acrobatic monkeys, ravenous bubble lions, and flying sea creatures to entertain the kiddies. A whimsical mix of vibrant color, simple lines, and curving shapes and patterns that evoke the work of Wanda Gág, Nyeu's artwork shines in the book's dynamic double-page spreads. Although there isn't much of a story line piecing together the fantastical scenes, young children will enjoy interpreting the offbeat action that unfolds. As with most things, the monkeys steal the show here, and their antics propel much of the book's humor.--McKulski, Kristen Copyright 2008 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Making her debut with this publication of her M.F.A. thesis project, Nyeu tells the wordless story of two children who cultivate an enormous beanstalk-like plant, which in turn sprouts the titular bear, all in one night. With help from Wonder Bear's magical blue hat, the children are treated to a series of fantastic spectacles and adventures, culminating in a ride through the sky on the back of a royal dolphin in the company of other sea creatures. Elaborate patterning, a fondness for curvilinear motifs (gusts of wind, swirls in the ocean) and a saturated palette dominated by lapis and other gem tones give Nyeu's silk-screened compositions a sumptuous, Art Nouveau-meets-psychedelic feel. But her main characters lack the personality to drive a compelling narrative arc; in general, these pictures are like individual showcases for different visual challenges (how to re-create transparent surfaces, how to suggest clouds and sky, etc.). Nyeu's art makes a strong impression; it just doesn't tell much of a story. Ages 3-5. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-A dream fantasy in which a boy and a girl plant a "hat seed." Overnight, the seed bears magical fruit: a large white bear with a blue hat. From this hat, the bear proceeds to extract monkeys and porpoises as well as sea and firmament into which he carries the drowsing children. Finally cuddling them and tucking them in once again, the dream bear and monkeys drift back into the night. The slight, wordless story is a showcase for Nyeu's art. Executed in silkscreen with water-based ink, the bold palette of warm golden oranges and cool blues, assertive line, and handsome design are strikingly confident. There are a few visual holes in the story, but on the whole, this debut is worth a second look, even if it is not an essential purchase.-Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Old Greenwich, CT (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 Kirkus Book Review
Newcomer Nyeu's wordless fantasy begins with a girl and boy sowing seeds--she, for watermelons, he, for a hat (or so his planted sign would indicate). The pair sleeps in a people-bed beside their garden bed, awakening next morn to sprouting melon seeds and an eye-poppingly huge flowering plant. Its largest bud yields a magic hat and a white bear--who parlays the day into something wondrous, indeed. From his hat, Wonder Bear produces monkeys, giant bubbles resembling lions and flora that morphs into sea-creature escorts. After careering exhilaratingly through night sky and sea, the little band heads back in time for Bear to tuck the children in beside their fabulous garden, now rife with full-size watermelons. Borrowing from Seuss, Gag, Thurber and Japanese textiles, Nyeu's lush silk-screened pictures pulse with stylized yet organic forms, teetering perspectives and a mysterious, apt conclusion. The design elements are noteworthy, too: The generous trim size, creamy, opaque, matte paper and lovely boards and endpapers combine artfully. An intriguing, nuanced debut from an artist to watch. (Picture book. 3-5) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
