When a new student, Boris the bear, arrives in Miss Cluck’s classroom, he gets a frosty welcome from the other students, who are all afraid of his “fierce”-looking smile and booming voice. Things get decidedly warmer when, after a long and lonely day, the “hairy, scary grizzly bear” scares off the bullying rat pack with his toothy grin. Weston’s deft characterizations and Warnes’s soft-edged illustrations build sympathy for poor Boris, but readers who know anything about wildlife will wonder at the inconsistency in the animal roles: Why are the mice, rabbit and mole not afraid of Fergus the fox? Pleasing enough, but not much new here. (Picture book. 4-8)
