Bear and Bird: The Cave and Other Stories
by Jarvis; illus. by the author
Primary    Candlewick    64 pp.
5/25    9781536239423    $15.99
Paper ed.  9781536246476    $5.99
e-book ed.  9781536244625    $5.99

With four new stories, Jarvis continues to give young readers the emotionally satisfying, highly readable tales characteristic of the series. In “The Test,” Bird investigates her friend Bear to make sure that he is indeed who he claims to be, rather than his almost identical cousin. By the end, they have smoothed their friendship hiccup, while readers are invited to ponder a more philosophical question: how do you really know that your friend is themself? The two celebrate together in “The Day” even though each comes to the wrong conclusion about why the date is circled on the calendar. In “The Cave,” when the ball they are playing with rolls into a creepy cave, they bravely enter, only to discover the rumors of stinky goo and talking mushrooms are untrue. “The Umbrella” features a magical (or is it?) conveyance. Jarvis’s digital illustrations, with their soft edges and simple lines, perfectly match the gentle tone of the stories; even the entrance to the creepy cave is not too scary.

From the July/August 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.