-Mistaken Identity Again! –
This is the 4th book in the Mother Bruce series. To better understand Santa Bruce, it helps to know a little bit about the first book, Mother Bruce.
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?
In this book, Bruce again is faced with mistaken identity. He is only interested in skipping the upcoming holiday since he is known for being rather grumpy, not a fan of fun, and certainly not seeking anything cheerful.
However, being “mother” to a gaggle of geese and three mice (see Hotel Bruce) that are all overjoyed that Christmas is approaching might mean Bruce won’t be sleeping through the winter.
Bruce dons his red long underwear and warm red hat and heads outside to shovel some snow. When a raccoon appears, something happens that makes his holiday even worse.
Are you Santa?!
Bruce seems to be at first confused. Then he grumpily makes his denial.
No. I am not. Go away.
Ohmygosh! I met Santa! Wait right here while I go get me friends!
Wait! Grrrrrrr! I am NOT Santa!
Soon a group of excited animals gathers around Bruce’s cabin door. But will those mischievous mice consider listening when Bruce says,
No. Don’t open the door! I don’t want all their dirty little feet in my . . .
And with that, another adventure begins for our dear grumpy bear.
My Thoughts
What Concerned Me: Not a major concern, but all of the animals stayed totally in character. But this one time, at Christmas, I would have liked to see even an itty bitty smile at the end of the story from Bruce, even if his words are still grumpy.
What I Liked Most: I’m one who smiles fairly easily, but an out-and-out laugh is a little harder for me to let go of. This series makes me laugh. Even this book had me laughing out loud since I guess I may have a little grumpy bear inside of me at times. Being more of an introvert, I like a little less chaos, but I can also sense that deep down Grumpy Bruce is pleased to have the new family.
Higgins does a fantastic job illustrating this series, as well as several other books. FYI the mice that show up in this series first premiered in Be Quiet by Ryan T. Higgins.
Ryan T. Higgins (ryanthiggins.com) is an author and illustrator who likes the outdoors and cheese sandwiches. He is NOT a grumpy old black bear, but he DOES like making books about one-starting with the New York Times best-selling Mother Bruce, which received the E. B. White Read-Aloud Award and the Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Honor. He also wrote and illustrated Hotel Bruce, BE QUIET!, Bruce’s Big Move, and We Don’t Eat Our Classmates. Ryan lives in Maine with his wife and kids . . . and too many pets.
Author / Illustrator: Ryan T. Higgins
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion (September 4, 2018)
Approx. Word Count: 661
Pages: 48
