Bear With Me

August 9, 2021
Vola’s North American debut features quirky b&w pencil and tempura art, following a narrator whose life is suddenly interrupted by the appearance of a towering, smudgy-outlined inky black bear. Despite the narrator’s many signs protesting bears (“BEARS NOT WELCOME,” the mat in front of the cartoonishly fenced-in, isolated house reads), the ursine figure charges through the front door and immediately proceeds to wreak havoc. “Since he’s been here,/ things have changed,” one spread reads, showing the angry pale-skinned narrator struggling uphill with the bear on their bicycle on one page, and their skiff tipping as the heavy bear unbalances it on the other. Common activities such as eating, watching a movie, and hanging out with friends are all disturbed by the bear’s outsize presence. Though the lack of clear resolution may disappoint some readers, and the text employs an instance of fat-shaming in a lengthy name-calling passage, this picture book could satisfactorily serve as a metaphor for coexisting with anxiety, depression, or unwanted emotions. Ages 4–8.

July 15, 2021
An unnamed narrator describes the experience of an unwanted visitor that arrives in the form of a large black bear. A bear enters a home and wreaks havoc. Politely asking him to leave; attempting to run away (even to another planet); and surrendering and offering to become his lunch: Nothing works. Sleeping, commonplace activities, and spending time with friends are disrupted and become challenging, since the bear "never leaves me alone." The grayscale line drawings feature heavily saturated black paint for the bear, who dominates most spreads, and an exaggerated scale: Most of the time, the bear looms massively over everything but, in one illustration, is small enough to fit in a sink. The text also leans on hyperbole to make its point, describing the bear with "his super stupid fur" as "the very worst bear on the whole entire planet" and, in the next sentence, the most odious presence by using a series of 19 adjectives in a row (fat, naughty, party-pooping, and so forth). The book, an Italian import, presents the bear as a metaphor for troubling feelings; despair or grief are likely, though it's never explicitly named. The story's only resolution is a spread showing that many people have an unwanted bear to bear. All humans are depicted as White. More concept piece than story, this book will likely resonate with readers living with their own bears. (Picture book. 4-10)

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August 1, 2021
Grades K-3 A young girl expresses her extreme dislike of a bear that has come to live at her house. He wrecks the furniture and displays bad manners; she's allergic to his fur and can't seem to shake him no matter how hard she tries. Throughout her verbal tirade the bear remains silent, much to her annoyance. Vola's black-and-white pencil and tempera illustrations employ a comic style that includes an oversized, blobby bear that seems to overwhelm the delicate, penciled-in portions of the art. Careful viewers are rewarded with subtle visual jokes: a Grecian urn depicts a bear being wrestled, the child's pillow frowns when the bear takes over her bed, and the bear completely obscures the girl's view at a movie theater. Remarkably (given that this is translated from Italian), several verbal jokes work as well, like ""Ibearprofen for unbearable pain,"" and the title's double meaning. A final spread suggests everyone might have their own bear to contend with, but Vola leaves much unresolved (including the bear's affinity for butterflies), giving open-minded readers much to ponder.

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