A Visitor for Bear
by Bonny Becker
Illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton
An adorable British accented mouse charms his way through this soon-to-be-favorite picture book. Bear is a grumpy loner with a "No Visitors Allowed" sign on the door. When a determined mouse keeps trying, Bear eventually finds it's nice to have a friend in for tea.
Becker has done a lovely job with the dialog. Bear is curmudgeonly and given a wide variety of explosive types of speech (commanded, cried, rumbled). Mouse, though not using any Briticisms, has an obviously cadence that lends itself to a British accent. Denton provided phenomenal pictures. Both animals have excellent expressions throughout and a lot of action is provided for the animals--often of the flying through the air variety.
I think my favorite part of the whole book though was when the two finally sit down to tea. Becker describes the mouse as "most attentive." It's not a phrase you hear often, particularly in children's literature but here it tickles delightfully. I hope it will help the kids be most attentive.
So appearing at a storytime near you....
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