Mother Bruce

September 7, 2015
Bruce is a grumpy bear. He’s also a thieving and unscrupulous bear, and he likes to take eggs from nests (“He cooked them into fancy recipes he found on the internet”). But four eggs he grabs from a goose don’t cook. They hatch. The four goslings that emerge follow Bruce everywhere, and no matter how he threatens—even when he bares his fangs and roars—the adorable big-footed goslings look merely puzzled. Little by little, the geese break Bruce down (“Bruce was stuck with them. He tried to make the best of it”) and wear away at his dignity; in one scene he glares darkly beside a wading pool in water wings and flippers. Having passed through goose infancy and goose adolescence (complete with headphones) into adulthood, the geese refuse to migrate; Bruce has to improvise. Higgins (Wilfred) dwells satisfyingly on Bruce’s forbidding scowls and tubby middle, and even portrays properly the change from gosling fuzz to adult Canada goose plumage. It’s a droll look at conflict won by the underdog and—in its way—a book about unconventional families. Ages 3–5. Agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary Management.

Starred review from September 15, 2015
A crotchety bear unwillingly raises four goslings. Bruce is a stocky, black-and-dark-indigo bear with a scowling unibrow. He dislikes sunny days, rainy days, and cute little animals. He likes one thing: eggs, cooked into gourmet recipes that he finds on the Internet. He "collects" eggs from Mrs. Sparrow or Mrs. Goose-asking, hilariously, whether they're "free-range organic"-but the pictures reveal the truth: he's clearly stealing them. As Bruce brings home some goose eggs that unexpectedly hatch and imprint on him-"Bruce became the victim of mistaken identity"-wry text and marvelously detailed pictures juxtapose uproariously. Setting out to "get the ingredients" means wheeling a shopping cart into a river; "for some reason" he loses his appetite placing a pat of butter atop a live gosling's head on his plate. Grumblingly, Bruce rears them from "annoying baby geese" through "stubborn teenage geese" (wearing headphones, naturally) into "boring adult geese." Still they won't leave him. Rather than migrating (by wing or by the giant slingshot Bruce builds for the purpose), they don winter hats and coats. Befitting Bruce's personality, there's no sappy change of heart, but this family is forever. Higgins' softly fascinating textures, deft lines, savvy use of scale, and luminous landscapes (which evoke traditional romantic landscape painting, atmospheric in air and light) make for gorgeous art. Visually beautiful, clever, edgy, and very funny. (Picture book. 3-6)

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