BIRTHDAY BEAR

The Grunion children, last seen in The Door That Had Never Been Opened Before (2024), return to wreak havoc…with a little help.

As the opening rhyme informs us, summoning the Birthday Bear when the candles are lit on your cake is a dangerous proposition. Like Beetlejuice or the Candyman, the Birthday Bear comes when called, and it’s more than happy to eat the party guests. “And no one would want that.” Except that mischievous Geraldine does. She soon comes to regret her wish, however, when the bright yellow (and enormous) bear shows up and looms menacingly. After he dances and sings his hungry intentions, Geraldine and her siblings flee. What follows is a high-stakes game of hide-and-seek as the children attempt to escape. Paper cutout wizardry allows the characters and objects to float above the scenes, giving every page a three-dimensional pop. All is in black and white, with the exception of red, yellow, and blue spots of color on every page; characters have skin the white of the page. A distinctive deus ex machina in the form of midnight chimes (thereby finishing the birthday day) brings the narrative to an abrupt close, but this rhythmic tale of an overly enthused ursine in hot pursuit of three rambunctious children will linger.

For kids down with birthday shenanigans, this wild ride provides ample read-aloud laughs.