Bearsuit Turtle Makes a Friend
by Bob Shea; illus. by the author
Preschool, Primary    Abrams    40 pp.
3/25    9781419771552    $19.99
e-book ed.  9798887071862    $17.99

A turtle in a yellow bear suit tries to fool everyone by claiming to be a “for-real bear.” A second turtle realizes something’s amiss, but instead of calling Bearsuit Turtle’s bluff, raises the stakes by insisting on being a “for-real bear expert.” The pair grandstands, boasts, and taunts each other in a manner that grows increasingly absurd, as children’s banter can do. The ersatz bear claims to hibernate “like five times a day,” for instance, and the faux bear expert asserts that bears forage—for ice cream. Shea (Pizza for Bird, rev. 7/24) uses digital art to create childlike cartoon images that have the texture of paint on canvas in bold shades of avocado, orange, and gold. After the duo’s swaggering segues into activities such as riding bikes and smashing pumpkins, the fake bear expert finally admits to knowing only “the regular bear things that everyone knows.” Bearsuit Turtle isn’t ready to give up being a for-real bear but concedes to maybe also being a turtle. Then the new friends go swimming. All’s well that ends well in this book that will stand up to multiple read-alouds.

From the ">May/June 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.