Ryan T. Higgins

Ryan T. Higgins first came on the scene in 2015 with the hilarious and tongue-in-cheek, instant favorite, Mother Bruce. He followed this up with more stories about Bruce, a wacky pair of mice, and now he's expanding into a very unusual new student in his latest tale.

Penelope is really worried about her first day at school. Her parents try to reassure her; she gets a backpack with ponies on it, 300 sandwiches for lunch, and her dad walks her to school. But then she discovers that all of her show more new classmates are...

HUMANS!

Children, in fact. It's a lovely classroom, with only 12 students (counting Penelope), racially diverse, with lots of science equipment, cozy reading spaces, and a cubby for everyone. But Penelope has some trouble fitting in, especially when she keeps, well, you know, they look so good, and they smell tasty too and.... yep, she keeps eating them. The drool-bespattered children are naturally reluctant to make friends with Penelope. Penelope is lonely, but then she gets some good advice from her dad: "children are the same as us on the inside. Just tastier." And she really tries! But they are so tasty...

It's not until the tables are turned on Penelope that she realizes what it's like to be eaten... and manages to curb her appetite.

Higgins' art is full of earth colors and lots of drool; Penelope's big, black eyes stare sorrowfully out at the reader, because she just can't understand why no one wants to be her friend! The bulgy-eyed goldfish, long-suffering teacher, and nervous children are all memorable and distinct characters. While the story points a lesson about friendship and fitting in, it's far from heavy-handed and the humor is definitely the main takeaway.

Verdict: Sure to be a favorite when reading back to school books, this one is a must-have for your school displays and it may even make a helpful reminder for younger students, in an updated version of the classic mantra, "Do unto others" remind your students, "Don't eat your friends!"

ISBN: 9781368003551; Published June 2018 by Disney-Hyperion; F&G provided by publisher; Purchased for the library show less

Grouchy Bruce the bear didn't like holidays. He didn't like Easter, Christmas, or Thanksgiving, and he definitely didn't like Halloween! When his family of mice and geese decide to correct this issue by enacting a retelling of The Legend of Soggy Hollow, with Bruce in the leading role of Ichabod Bruce, things don't go quite to plan. As Bruce flees from his "intended," the lovely Miss Camilla van Moofle (played by a moose), he encounters the real horseless horseman in the woods...

A clear show more send-up of Washington Irving's classic tale of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, this eighth picture book about Bruce the bear and the geese and mice he cares for was a hoot! Bruce and the Legend of Soggy Hollow pairs an amusing narrative, full of silly humor children will find entertaining—fleeing from kisses, inadvertently falling in with a real ghost—with appealing artwork that ably captures the zany hijinks in the text. I'm reading this one out of season, as it has been on request at my library since I discovered its existence, and it only recently became available. That said, it was still quite entertaining, regardless of the time of year, and is one I would recommend to picture book readers who have enjoyed other tales about this blustery bear and his unconventional family. show less

That grumpy bear, Mother Bruce, is back in this amusing board book, resisting all efforts to get him to join the fun. As the counting kicks off with "1 grumpy bear," a series of animals appear, all joining the party started by the three mice (naturally). At the end of the book however, the reader still encounters "1 grumpy bear...."

Having enjoyed all eight of the large-format picture books about Bruce and his family of goslings and mice, I picked up 1 Grumpy Bruce: A Counting Book with some show more anticipation, sure that (if nothing else) I would appreciate author/illustrator Ryan T. Higgins' droll artwork. Happily, I can report that this is in fact the case—as always, the visuals here tickle my funny bone, as Bruce resists all efforts at getting him to be less grouchy—but I was also amused by the text itself. I don't think I've seen a counting book before that starts at 1, and ends up at 1 again, at the conclusion. That device allows Higgins to tell a little story, in a simple board book that might otherwise only be about numbers and counting. Recommended to fans of Bruce and his adventures, and to those looking for fun counting books for babies. show less

When Bruce rejects fun one too many times in this seventh picture book devoted to his adventures, the mice secretly wish that he would change, becoming more cheerful, more adventurous, and more full of pizazz. Little do they realize that Bruce's fun-loving cousin Kevin is on the way, arriving the same day Bruce himself takes off on a fishing trip. Convinced that their wishes have come true, the mice (and geese) enjoy the chaotic hijinks at first, but soon discover that this new "Bruce" might show more be fun, but he isn't particularly attuned to their needs, or even their safety. Could it be that too much fun isn't a good thing, and that Bruce was fine as we was...?

Featuring the same sly sense of humor and underlying goodheartedness (grumpy blue bears notwithstanding) as it predecessors, The Bruce Swap was a fun adventure with these appealing characters. As always, I appreciated the eponymous ursine character's gruff grouchiness, and the fact that, underneath it all, this is a bear who does truly care. I certainly got a chuckle out of the fact that, returning home, Bruce offers to be more fun, only to be met with emphatic denials. This emphasizes that, in the end, what Bruce brings to the table is something more valuable than "fun." He is that solidly dependable parent who sees to the needs of his children, and ensures their welfare, even if not always a barrel of laughs. In short: he is a parental figure, rather than a friend, something the mice and geese come to appreciate, when his steadying influence is removed. Recommended to fans of "Mother Bruce" and his brood, as well as to those picture book readers looking for stories which emphasize the idea of being careful what you wish for, and of solid dependability being more important in a parent, than "pizazz." show less