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Summary
Summary
It's a bright and beautiful day at the lake where a boy and his mother are camping. The boy is just a little scared of jumping into the water. At the same time, not too far away, a hungry bear cub is a little scared of diving deep into a dumpster, where tasty snacks await.
Later, when the boy encounters a distraught mama bear sniffing around the dumpster, he's very scared. But so is her bear cub, who is trapped inside! Bold, graphic artwork moves the narrative along in this mostly-wordless book full of sound effects and simple variations on a single phrase full of so many meanings ("He was scared"). Parallel stories of the mother and son, and mama and cub, come together when the campers, despite being scared, help rescue the cub from the dumpster.
This simple, moving story invites readers to observe expressions, body language, and details hidden in the illustrations to follow the narrative. It's a sweet summer read that normalizes fear and encourages acting with courage and compassion--even when you're scared.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-An outdoors jaunt in the vein of Blueberries for Sal. A boy and his mother are car camping in the woods. Once their tent is set up, the two enjoy nature. The boy is scared to jump into the lake. Meanwhile, a bear cub is afraid to jump into a campground dumpster to rummage for food. They both make the leap. When the boy takes trash to the dumpster, the anxious mama bear is there to help her cub who is stuck in the dumpster. The campers devise a plan to stick a log into the dumpster for the cub to crawl out. The plan works. The premise throughout the book is that both sets of mother and child push past their fear and succeed at the task at hand. The artistry of Joffre's cut and painted paper collage illustrations gives the book some distinction. Textures, bright colors, details, and creative attention to perspective provide readers something interesting to see with every turn of the page. The prose, while very spare, can read as an unnecessary addition. VERDICT Relevant issues, such as emotional resilience, good stewardship, and challenging oneself, together with the thoughtful illustrations, make this a worthy purchase for libraries.-Mindy Hiatt, Salt Lake County Library Services © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Poulin parallels the experiences of a shaggyhaired child with that of a bear cub in this touching story. The boy is "a little scared" to leap from a branch into a body of water; meanwhile, the cub prepares to jump into a foodfilled dumpster, feeling the same way. Both the cub and boy become "very scared"-the boy, off to throw out his campsite's garbage, encounters the cub's mother, and the cub can't get out of the bin. Poulin's collagestyle art has a crisp, retro look: the campers' truck sports long rainbow stripes, the family owns an oldschool wireless radio. The boy and his mother find an innovative solution to the cub's predicament, and final spreads show the two roasting marshmallows while the cub and mother bear are together in the safety of the darkness: "They're no longer scared." Ages 3-7. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
He's a little scared" describes both a cub about to jump into a Dumpster and a boy about to jump into a lake. Will the boy overcome his fear in a different scenario--i.e., when he discovers that the cub needs help? The collages in this elegantly spare plug for cross-species empathy depict two parent-child pairs peaceably coexisting at a campground. (c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Minimal text and retro illustrations tell the parallel tales of a young boy and a bear cub.Using only nine different words, Poulin's text repeats for both the boy, on a camping trip with his mother, and the bear cub: "He's a little scared" shows the boy on a limb that stretches out over the water, his mother waiting below with outstretched arms. On another spread, the words are illustrated with a bear cub on a similar limb above a dumpster. Following pages show the boy and his mother in their campsite and the cub inside the dumpster; both offspring are eating. Then the boy gets a chore: biking the trash over to the dumpster. "He's very scared" shows the boy furiously pedaling away from the mother bear, who's next to the dumpster where her cub is trapped. The humans return to the dumpster together and place a log inside so the cub can climb out. "No longer scared," mom and son roast marshmallows under the moon, and the bears cuddle together. Joffre's artwork, which appears to be paper collage, visually fills in the rest of the story, and readers can pore over the pages, which teem with details. The colors and style (especially the giant racing stripes on the mustard-colored pickup) lend the whole thing a retro feel that suits. Mother and son present white.Conquering fears, helping others, and perhaps a message about wild animals and human garbagethough almost wordless, this book certainly says a lot. (Picture book. 3-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
In this heartwarming story, a boy and his mom go camping. As the boy experiences different levels of fear, a wild cub simultaneously experiences fear, too, though the circumstances of their fears are different. They come together when the boy takes some trash to the dumpster and is frightened to see a bear standing nearby--the cub is trapped inside the bin and needs help getting out. With a little help from their grownups, both the boy and the bear cub will need to find some courage to conquer their fears. The minimal words on each spread make this ideal for emerging readers, and the scenes in the cut-paper collage artwork, featuring modern, stylized natural shapes against crisp, white backgrounds, will be easy for children to identify and interpret. This approachable story with an outdoorsy theme nicely introduces concepts of both fear and bravery, and the dual perspectives should encourage empathy. A great pairing for François Aubineau and Jérôme Peyrat's On My Mountain (2020).
