VERY HAIRY BEAR

Outlined in a thick, curly halo of split ends, a “boulder-big bear with shaggy, raggy, brownbear hair everywhere . . . except on his no-hair nose” bounds happily through a seasonal round in this outdoorsy gambol. Schertle’s patterned language sets up a playful cadence that Phelan captures perfectly in his soft-lined, buttery-yellow pastels. Whether splashing after salmon in spring, fearlessly sticking that no-hair nose into a bee tree in summer, lounging at purple-stained ease amid a patch of blueberry bushes or chowing down on a hoard of acorns as squirrels chatter angrily above, the portly protagonist positively radiates doggy good cheer. Until, that is, winter sets in—then it’s time for a good scratch on a rough tree trunk and a sleepy retreat to a cave where “shaggy, raggy, very hairy bearpaws” can protect that sensitive nose from the cold wind. He’s a bear of rare appeal, and it’s hard to resist the urge to snuggle down next to him. (Picture book. 5-7)