Move over, Grinch! Bruce, the grumpy black (well, purple) bear from Ryan T. Higgins's Mother Bruce, Hotel Bruce and Bruce's Big Move, is suffering yet another case of mistaken identity. His family of adopted geese and mice wants a Christmas filled with glee, and Bruce just wants to sleep. But when their young woodland neighbors mistake red-flannel-bundled Bruce for the big, jolly guy himself, all hope for a peaceful holiday is ruined. Before Bruce knows it, the little "critters" are on his knee, telling Santa Bruce what they want for Christmas (a race car, world peace, a "power compound miter saw").
Higgins is a master of creating stories with dead-serious protagonists who don't get their way (Be Quiet). But readers will never mistake Bruce's heart for anything other than what it really is: big and soft. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor