Mother Bruce

by Ryan T. Higgins, Ryan T. Higgins (Illustrator)

Overview

Bruce the bear likes to keep to himself. That, and eat eggs. But when his hard-boiled goose eggs turn out to be real, live goslings, he starts to lose his appetite. And even worse, the goslings are convinced he’s their mother. Bruce tries to get the geese to go south, but he can’t seem to rid himself of his new companions. What’s a bear to do?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781484730881
Publisher:	Disney Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/24/2015
Series:	Mother Bruce Series
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	72,316
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 12.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD500L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Ryan T. Higgins is an author/illustrator residing in Southern Maine. He lives with his three dogs, three cats, two geckos, one tortoise, one son, one daughter, and one wife. He has wanted to be a cartoonist since as far back as he can remember. (Actually, that’s not entirely true—he wanted to be a tiger until he was three, but, sadly, that didn't really pan out.) Ryan’s first picturebook, Wilfred, was named a 2013 Wanda Gág Read Aloud Honor Book. Visit Ryan online at ryanthiggins.com.

Editorial Reviews

Higgins turns classic picture-book scenarios upside down, then wrings them for contemporary laughs…

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

09/07/2015
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. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

E. B. White Read-Aloud Award
Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Honor
New York Times Best Seller
Kids Indie Next List, Top 10

"Higgins turns classic picture-book scenarios upside down, then wrings them for contemporary laughs."—New York Times

"[H]ats off to Ryan T. Higgins."—Wall Street Journal

* "[W]ry text and marvelously detailed pictures juxtapose uproariously. . .Visually beautiful, clever, edgy, and very funny."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

* "Ryan T. Higgins's illustrations are extraordinary. . . . [A] hilarious, artful picture book with a nod to foodies great and small."—Shelf Awareness, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 2015-08-26
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)

Kirkus Reviews