There's a Bear on My Chair

Starred review from June 6, 2016
A playful portrait of impotent rage, Collins’s (The Elephantom) rhyming story looks at what happens when a problem is just too big to tackle. A huge lunk of a polar bear has taken a liking to a mouse’s chair; it’s comically small for him, and he spills over the sides. The bear gives a gleeful wave to readers as the mouse fumes: “He is so big,/ it’s hard to share./ There isn’t any/ room to spare.” While the bear reads the newspaper and models his Elvis costume (“He has fine taste in leisure wear,/ I’m fond of how he does his hair”), the mouse rants and schemes, tempting the bear with treats, then making other plans (“Maybe I’ll give him a scare—/ I’ll jump out in my underwear!”). Unimpressed, the bear checks his phone. The encounter ends with a neat reversal of circumstances in a nearby igloo. Collins’s drawings win laughs with confident, swooping lines and witty details (the silver tips on the collar of the bear’s Elvis shirt), and his sparkling verse has the ring of a nursery classic. Ages 2–5.

July 1, 2016

PreS-Gr 2-Mouse has a problem-someone is on his chair! In a miniature red-and-white sweater, Mouse complains to readers, "There's a bear on my chair. He is so big, it's hard to share," and with a friendly wave, viewers meet a polar bear. Mouse tries various ways to get the bear off his chair, such as "a nasty glare," "a pear," and "a scare," and, finally, in a fit of "despair," Mouse leaves. Bear, finding himself alone, returns to his home of snow and ice to announce, "Hey! There's a mouse in my house." The delightful rhyme and rhythm make this title great fun to read aloud. The text takes up one side of each spread, emphasizing words that appear in red font to convey the escalating emotions. Expressive digital illustrations are placed on single-color backgrounds that help focus readers' attention on the characters' dilemmas. VERDICT A must-purchase and instant classic for storytime and one-on-one sharing. Sure to become a favorite.-Karen Ginman, BookOps: The New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2016
A bear has settled himself in a mouse's chair, and nothing will move him.The big polar bear is certainly not unaware that he has usurped the chair, but he seems to be feeling no guilt about it. The sweater-clad mouse speaks directly to readers, airing complaints, making outrageous threats, offering bribes, and throwing tantrums. It even acknowledges that the bear's endangered status calls for some extra care, but the situation is untenable. All the while, the bear is silently self-absorbed. In desperation, the mouse leaves for parts unknown. When the bear finally ambles away, he heads home to his igloo only to find that mouse asleep in his bed. Now the tale has turned, and the bear at last speaks: one, perplexed line. The mouse's one-sided diatribe appears in very large print with key words emphasized in red. Every second line ends in a rhyme with the contested "chair," including "glare," "lair," "hair," even "leisure wear," and (of course) "underwear." Collins' pencil-and-digital illustrations are completely interwoven with the text, enlarging and enhancing the tale with over-the-top humor and expressive body language. The mouse jumps out of a box (in that underwear), offers a juicy pear, glares from atop a ladder, and more. The bear matches these goofy antics as he reads a newspaper, does an Elvis impression, takes a snooze, and checks his cellphone.Silly, laugh-out-loud fun. (Picture book. 2-6)

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January 1, 2017
A polar bear has commandeered a mouse's chair. After numerous attempts to reclaim the chair ("Maybe Ill give him a scare-- / I'll jump out in my underwear!"), the mouse storms off. The self-satisfied bear heads home, only to find a surprise waiting. This playfully illustrated sparring match is both a pleasure-making exercise in gratuitous rhyme and a distillation of a classic sibling dynamic.

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)