Bear and the whisper of the wind

With thoughtful text and delicately colored spreads made using colored pencil, pencil, and watercolor, Dubuc (1, 2, 3, Off to School!) explores the impulse to change circumstances. Bear lives in a lovely thatched cottage, enjoying a life that seems ideal: spending time with friends, sitting in a cozy chair, and eating strawberry pie. Then the wind changes, "and Bear senses that it is time to go." He packs the things he wants to keep in a blue blanket and leaves his cottage behind. In the forest--a lovely, deep place with plentiful trees--Bear sometimes feels lonely, and sometimes feels free. He meets a friend and they enjoy time together, but he's soon overtaken by the urge to continue on. At his lowest moment, when Bear doubts his choice, an event draws him into a new community, and contentment follows. Dubuc makes it easy to enter Bear's desirous rationale, as he wonders "why he couldn't stay in the cozy little house in the clearing" and "What if I have made a terrible mistake?" in a book about a character who listens carefully to his inner impulses, and acts on them. Ages 4--8. (Mar.)

Bear lives in a nice house with a favorite chair, spends time with good friends, and loves "the smell of freshly baked strawberry pie," but sometimes even a sweet life needs upending. A change in the wind prompts restless Bear to pack his "most treasured possessions" and leave in search of "something new." Clad in red pants and yellow galoshes, Bear doesn't have a destination in mind; instead, he lets the journey guide him, first to the home of Rabbit, whose roof he helps fix, and then onward until he meets Mouse, who lives in a valley with a stream and blueberry patch, which becomes Bear's new favorite spot and home. Dubuc (Little Cheetah's Shadow, rev. 7/20) thoughtfully addresses the complexities involved in giving up the safety of the known for the unknown: it can be scary ("What if I have made a terrible mistake?") but also allows for personal growth and reward. Details in the art acknowledge the need for comfort during upheaval; some of those "treasured possessions," which remind Bear of his old friends, reappear throughout. The mainly green and brown hues of the woodland setting in Dubuc's precise pencil, colored-pencil, and watercolor illustrations reflect the naturalness of Bear's desire for change. Cynthia K. Ritter July/August 2022 p.87(c) Copyright 2022. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.