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Jul 22, 2017Lieslwerner rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Bruce becomes a parent quite by accident. The grumpy bear is trying to make “hard-boiled goose eggs drizzled with honey-salmon sauce” (unpaged), a recipe he found on the internet. He even “collected honey from a local beehive. He liked to support local business, you see” (unpaged). When he goes to find wood for his stove fire, he returns to find four goslings in his pot, and they think HE is their mama, despite his vociferous protestations. Mother Goose has left. Over the course of the story, we see grumpy Bruce open his heart to his unexpected family, trying “to make the best of it” with pictures of him teaching the goslings to swim and wearing them in a multi-baby carrier, even though “it was hard work” when they make messes and refuse his culinary offerings (unpaged). In the end, his goslings will not leave him, even to migrate, so they all go to Miami together every winter. Illustrations both move the story narratively and add humor (bear and ducks covered with paint from art time). I think the pictures are done with a mixture of pen and ink and watercolors. The cartoon style is appropriate for the silly story. Backgrounds are rich and textured as Bruce’s life becomes more varied. Bruce's dark, ragged edges contrast with the rest of the world, as does his blue/black coloring against washes of warm browns and yellows. Early spreads illustrate Bruce’s solitude as he grumps at everything from sun to rain to a bunny--pictures float in a mostly white page. The pictures become larger and brighter as his interest, cooking recipes from the internet, is introduced. It is only when the goslings are introduced, however, that the picture, and Bruce’s world, fill two page spreads. The cover design is delicious, the front showing a close up of Bruce’s perplexed face, and the back cover showing a furry back. The front endpapers show the beautiful wood where Bruce makes his home, and the back endpapers show the beach where he and his goslings spend the winter. I grabbed this book because I thought it was a twist on Mother Goose stories, but then I was drawn in by the delightfully grumpy bear. Mother Bruce is both silly and heartwarming. The ridiculousness of the situation and the way Bruce takes care of his goslings shows that family is what you make it.