Bad Bears and a Bunny: An Irving and Muktuk Story (Irving & Muktuk Story) [Hardcover]

Daniel Pinkwater (Author), Jill Pinkwater (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up | Series: Irving & Muktuk Story

Irving and Muktuk are polar bears in the Bayonne, New Jersey, zoo. They wish they had privileges like their polar bear friend Roy, who goes home every night at six o’clock. But they are known as bad bears. The Zoo Director thinks Irving and Muktuk are not to be trusted.

One morning a small white bunny shows up, eating grass at the edge of the polar bear enclosure. Irving and Muktuk aren’t sure what to make of it. They don’t know how to behave. They make the bunny mad. Trouble is brewing at the zoo.

When their friend Roy invites them to a party at a fancy hotel, Irving and Muktuk are asked to behave themselves. They assure Roy that they can be trusted. But trust doesn’t come easily, and when the bears arrive at the party, they are soon put to the test.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2–In this third tale about the muffin-stealing polar bears who live at the zoo in Bayonne, NJ, Irving and Muktuk tease a bunny: "Hey, bunny-boy!...You…eat...grass! Grass-eater! Grass-eater! Yah, yah, yah!" In return, they are kicked and bitten and come to fear the little creature, so when they attend a party where he is also a guest, they find it hard to exhibit their usual mischievous behavior. The author's droll sense of humor makes this book a winner. The marker-and-ink illustrations work well with the story, with the stark white, humanlike bears taking center stage on most spreads. This book should find an audience in most libraries, particularly where Irving and Muktuk are popular.–Kelley Rae Unger, Peabody Institute, MA

From Booklist

K-Gr. 2. Irving and Muktuk, the bad polar bears of two previous books, find themselves cowed by a bunny in this brisk tale. Roy, a good bear, lives in an apartment near the zoo. He invites Irving and Muktuk to a party after they agree to behave, although as they note, "We're not to be trusted." Roy is willing to take a chance, but having warned him, Irving and Muktuk feel they have carte blanche to do their worst. Also at the party is a bunny that readers have met a few pages earlier when he was doing his best to terrorize the bad bears. They spend the party trying to avoid the rabbit, and, for once, the duo is under control. A foreshortened, one-joke story doesn't always a book make, but this has the advantage of Daniel Pinkwater's droll, understated text and Jill Pinkwater's giggleworthy artwork in felt-tip marker and ink. The focus is always on those two white bears, and sometimes there's not much going on in the pictures, but a pop of excitement comes from the bears' own relationship. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (April 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618339264
• ISBN-13: 978-0618339266
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,403,676 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Daniel Pinkwater lives with his wife, the illustrator and novelist Jill Pinkwater, and several dogs and cats in a very old farmhouse in New York's Hudson River Valley.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2 The Bad Boy Bears of Bayonne, New Jersey, December 21, 2005

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bad Bears and a Bunny: An Irving and Muktuk Story (Irving & Muktuk Story) (Hardcover)

This new Pinkwater book is the equivalent of a shaggy dog story with bears--two "bad bears." Previously, Daniel and Jill Pinkwater team depicted Irving and Mutluk's forced departure from the Arctic (where they failed repeatedly to steal muffins) to the Bayonne, New Jersey zoo. That story ends more happily than it first appears, as the bears discover a muffin factory next to their new home! (Their larcenous adventures at the Bayonne muffin factory are recounted in "Bad Bears in the Big City : An Irving & Muktuk Story.")

"Bad Bears and a Bunny" contains the magnificent dry wit associated with the bear books, embedded within an incredible yarn told with style and panache. Much of the humor here derives from role and reputation reversal: The bad boy bears mistakenly identify a small white bunny as a very small but dangerous polar bear. When their polar bear friend Roy (a "good bear" who lives in his own apartement!) corrects them, they feel emboldened and insult the bunny. Mr. Bunny goes into attack mode:

"The bunny is fast. He runs at the bears. He kicks Irving in the ankle. He bites Mukluk on the toe. Then, he is back at the edge of the bear enclosure, eating grass as though nothing had happened." Later, the bear keeper reassures the frightened bears that, contrary to their vehement opinions, "The bunny does not hate you, and he will not eat you."

In a final plot twist, Roy invites them to a blueberry muffin soup and fishcakes party held by his brother, Larry (of "At the Hotel Larry" and "Bongo Larry)." (It's good to see all four bears united, as Larry had dropped out of sight since getting his lifeguard job at Mr. Frobisher's hotel.) Anticipating that--try as they may-- they probably won't be able to behave, the bears' mischievous plans when they discover the vicious bunny to the affair! Will they be able to lay low and behave, or will they become the bunny's prey once again?

While the earlier "Irving and Mutluk," and "Bongo Larry" might be funnier, this is a very satisfying book that touches lightly on themes of maturity, self-control, and living up to one's image. Children will recognize many of the bears' feelings and the predicaments in which they find themselves. ALthough some of the humor may be too dry for the small fry, the bears' bravado, and the bear/rabbit encounters and role reversals are easily appreciated.

Jill Pinkwater's illustrations seem even more accomplished than usual; although there's still a casual feeling to the drawings, they appear richer and more sophisticated in both content and color (the flowers are spectacular!) than in previous bear books. Daniel and Jill Pinkwater join John Updike and, lately, Stephen Colbert, as progenitors of the best in bear lore. You may wish to see other books in the series sold here at Amazon.com.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Illustrations, July 19, 2005

By 

C. Wagner "cecilkunkle" (On the banks of the Wabash far away) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bad Bears and a Bunny: An Irving and Muktuk Story (Irving & Muktuk Story) (Hardcover)

No match for an aggravated bunny,Irving and Muktuk, bad and cowardly polar bears, are forced to be good...temporarily. This peculiar story also features a quite good polar bear who lives in an apartment and commutes to the zoo. That really seems odd at first reading, but probably no more so than "Put Me in the Zoo" by Robert Lopshire, a customer pleasing book. Ink and marker illustrations illuminate this title which should provide storytime laughter. A good purchase for public and school libraries as well as for Pinkwater fans.

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Read-Aloud Yet, January 23, 2010

By 

Tara Misu "Sandy" (Bryan, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bad Bears and a Bunny: An Irving and Muktuk Story (Irving & Muktuk Story) (Hardcover)

OK-- first of all, you need to know my son loves Pinkwater's humor. He loves the absurdity of the muffin-loving bears who are "only as good as they should be" and their bear friend who punches a timeclock at the zoo and goes home to his Bayonne, New Jersey apartment. Nothing is as funny to him as this exchange after they are invited to a party where they promise to behave themselves: Bear #1: "Do you really think we will behave at the party?" Bear #2: "No." or this whispered exchange: Bear #1: "Do you think the bunny's watching us?" Bear #2:"I don't know.." As you probably can tell, it's all in the voices and the read... have fun with it and it will become an instant favorite!