SYNOPSIS

Bruce is a grumpy, laconic, antisocial bear with a refined palate. His culinary quest for “goose eggs drizzled with honey-salmon sauce” turns problematic when the eggs hatch mid-recipe and four goslings imprint themselves on him. Reluctant mother Bruce does his best to teach his charges goose survival skills, often unsuccessfully and always hilariously. How happy Bruce is about this whole parenting business is for your readers to decide……we do know, however, that Bruce and his kids all migrate to Miami, so…  

(1st in a 7-book series)

PERFECT AGE 2 – 7

THEMES

• Kindness, taking care of others
• Feeling outside of one’s comfort zone, learning to adjust to change
• Not giving up even when we fail again and again
• “Family” can have many different looks, compositions and meanings

We love

• Terrific, rich vocabulary both for young listeners and for early readers
• Genius “collaboration” between text and illustrations, visually engrossing pictures
• Bruce is completely lovable and his parenting (mis)adventures are hysterical
• Really remarkable that each Bruce sequel gets better than its already awesome predecessors and the excellent original

CONVERSATION STARTERS

• Why do the goslings think Bruce is their mom? Are they correct?
• How would you describe Bruce’s feelings toward the goslings?
• Why did the geese go to Miami? Why do you think Bruce joined them?
• Which one is your favorite illustration? Why?