cbr15bingo Hold Steady: Bruce is stuck with people who do not listen to him and make him do things he does not want to.
I am not usually a Bruce the Bear (or Mother Bruce) fan. I have enjoyed the one or two Penelope Rex books I have read, but did not like Norman. Yet, when I read Bruce and the Legend of Soggy Hollow (Mother Bruce) I did not hate it. I am still not a huge fan of forcing Bruce to do things he does not want to do (and that Moose playing the lead female has some lessons to learn about personal space and consent) but the idea of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow edited waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down and made a bit more kid friendly (our Headless Horseman is a Horseless Horseman) did appeal to me. A little.
With a physical reader’s copy in my hand, I sat down and read. Okay, you know the story of Sleepy Hollow? Well this has a modern Halloween twist. Bruce the kindly Ichabod Crane gives candy to all his students. He is madly in love with a local girl. There is a Horseless Horseman. This is done in a play to help Bruce get into the holiday/Halloween spirit (really Bruce, I agree, you should have hibernated in September). And then, of course, things go too far and Bruce finds himself in trouble. The funny part is that of course, the Horseless Horseman is real, and everyone mistakes one of the mice (playing the ghoul in the play) for the real deal, and something sweet happens at the end and it has nothing to do with candy.
I admit, I probably have a soft spot for this book as I like Halloween. And really, the jokes were amusing, if not maybe done before (one mouse asked another to bring a “few friends” and what they brought is probably the entire forest and the one next to it). The art is typical Ryan T. Higgins and if you are a fan, you’ll be a fan of this one too. Due mid July 2023.