HOW GRIZZLY FOUND GRATITUDE

A lost grizzly bear gets adopted by an array of new animal friends in this picture book.

Deep in a blue-green and magenta wooded landscape, Grizzly has gotten lost and can’t find home. Exhausted, he sleeps and then awakes to discover plucky yellow-and-pink Bird. Bird expresses concern for his situation and helps Grizzly locate an “abandoned honeycomb” dripping with oodles of golden goo. Having fed him, Bird offers platitudes: “Even when things don’t go our way, if we have gratitude, we can be happy.” Understandably, Grizzly is frustrated by this advice: “I have absolutely lost everything!” Readers may be inclined to agree, but Bird introduces Grizzly to a menagerie of birds, a wolf, squirrels, and a badger and tells the story of her own lonely arrival in the woods and how a found family cared for her. Although his pals can’t help him find his home, Grizzly learns to accept that they are his new family. When some grizzlies show up to catch fish, he makes an unexpected choice. While character interactions deftly model compassion, care, and active listening, Mathew skirts emotional realism—it takes Grizzly a shockingly short time to adapt to the sadness of his loss, and there are no further episodes of nostalgia or longing for what is gone. Barron’s bright, animation-inspired, jewel-tone, lineless digital art, packed with simplified cartoon shapes and dynamic composition, enlivens this enjoyable friendship narrative.

An engaging animal tale that may help readers envision possible happy futures after a loss.