Award-winning picture book for Kindergarten

Higgins, Ryan T. (2015). Mother Bruce. New York: Disney - Hyperion.

Bruce is a grumpy bear who likes no one and nothing but cooked eggs, but when some eggs he was planning to boil hatch and the goslings believe he is their mother, he must try to make the best of the situation. (from the title page of the book.)

Ages 0-8; Pre-Kindergarten – Kindergarten

Being an award winner for read-aloud picture books, makes Mother Bruce an excellent pick for toddler story time. Mother Bruce has the potential to fuel so many themed topics and projects. For example, the book makes an excellent jumping off point for research and discussion into hibernation, migration, and how to fly. The book also does a great job of comparing likes and dislikes. In addition, Mother Bruce makes a great example of atypical families.

FUNNY🐻FAMILY🥚GRUMPY🐻ANIMALS

KIRKUS REVIEW:

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.

Mother Bruce [Review of the book Mother Bruce]. (2015, September 15). Kirkus Review. Retrieved from: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ryan-t-higgins/mother-bruce/ (Links to an external site.)

Award Winner: E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards: Picture Book

Sources:

Novelist Plus: Retrieved on September 16^th,2017: http://web.b.ebscohost.com/novp/detail?vid=2&sid=de540ae4-2f60-4fdb-adba-9f617aec8a37%40sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9bm92cC1saXZl#db=neh&UI=10455908 (Links to an external site.)

Goodreads: Retrieved on September 16^th, 2017: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25745002-mother-bruce?ac=1&from_search=true (Links to an external site.)