Irving and Muktuk: Two Bad Bears [Turtleback]

Daniel Manus Pinkwater (Author), Jill Pinkwater (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2003

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Two muffin-loving polar bears make a yearly attempt to use stealth and subterfuge to get muffins at the Yellowtooth Blueberry Muffin Festival.

--This text refers to the School & Library Binding edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Following up on their Larry books, in which the Pinkwaters chronicled a polar bear's hankering for blueberry muffins, Irving and Muktuk: Two Bad Bears by Daniel Pinkwater, illus. by Jill Pinkwater, showcases the town of Yellowtooth as it celebrates the New Year with a Blueberry Muffin Festival. Inevitably, shifty-eyed Irving and Muktuk sneak in, costumed as penguins, chefs or "extremely large, hairy blueberry muffins." Officer Bunny is finally driven to ship them to a zoo in Bayonne, N.J., "the muffin capital of the world."

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

reS-Gr 3-Think of this story as a children's version of Northern Exposure with a sweet tooth. Irving and Muktuk are two bumbling polar bears with a craving for blueberry muffins. It is New Year's Eve in the town of Yellowtooth, where the townsfolk arrive on dogsleds, snowshoes, and skis to celebrate the annual Blueberry Muffin Festival. Enter Officer Bunny, who is eager to uphold the law and protect the muffins from the two outlaw bears. Witty text mingles well with the comical illustrations done in felt-tip marker and ink. Children will laugh at the disguises used by these intruders trying to outwit the law. Cleverly written, this story would make a great read-aloud.

Karen J. Tannenbaum, Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library, IN

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Turtleback
• Publisher: Demco Media (August 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0606288813
• ISBN-13: 978-0606288811
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2 * Bearly Disguised, June 15, 2005

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Irving and Muktuk: Two Bad Bears (Hardcover)

Something about New England apparently attracts writers to bears. Notably, there is John Irving, who managed to place bears in "The Hotel New Hampshire," and other books, and there's the Pinkwater (Dan and Jill), who have givwritten such masterpieces as "Young Larry," "Bongo Larry," and "At the Hotel Larry." Now the Pinkwaters give us Irving and Mukluk, two polar bears unrelated to Larry and his brother Roy, but just as irresistible in their own way. Their way, by the way, is larceny, and they pursue one object only-the abundant muffins of Yellowtooth ("in the frozen north"), baked by the Yellowtoothians whenever there's a celebration. The people of Yellowtooth, according to Daniel Pinkwater, are raucous folks, partying all night, drinking root beer, and gambling! "They are a hard lot," comments Pinkwater in his signature wry humor, "but they have a soft spot in their hearts for blueberry muffins." The celebrations happen once a year, and every year, Irving and Muktuk concoct the absolute worst disguises ever worn in an effort to capture this booty.

The book is a series of similarly formulated gags. Irving and Muktuk cloak themselves in obviously fake disguises (although their knowing smiles hint that they think they are just too clever for Yellowtooth). They masquerade as "two orphan penguins" (complete with visibly tied-on, capes, masks, and stockings), "two adorable Girl Scouts" (who, strangely, insist on a muffin payment for their Girl Scout cookies), and as "two famous chefs from Bayonne, New Jersey" (the reported center of muffin making and appreciation) arriving to judge a Yellowtooth muffin baking contest.

Unfortunately for the scheming polar bears, they have a formidable opponent in the straight-laced, stolid Officer Bunny-a Mountie -like critter with a keen and logical mind. Officer Bunny who maintains law and order in Yellowtooth, he invariably sees through the awful disguises and sends the over-confident bears away by helicopter: "FWOP! FWOP! FWOP! Oh my! It is the helicopter! FWOP! FWOP! FWOP!" "Once again, you have failed to obtain muffins by stealth and subterfuge." Western civilization is safe again.

The bears' last disguise is their best: They curl up and try to pass "as blueberry muffins-extremely large, hairy muffins." However, Officer Bunny detects Muktuk drooling. Luckily, a zookeeper in, of all places, Bayonne, New Jersey offers to keep the bears. Even more luckily, the zoo is immediately adjacent to a giant muffin factory, operating 24 hours a day. Although the last picture of the airborne, handcuffed bears is a trifle disturbing, there is almost no doubt that they are already plotting their first raid on the muffin manufacturing plant.

The book is more structured and episodic than those in the freewheeling, more character-driven "Larry" series. Young toddlers may enjoy the repeated motif of disguise-recognition-capture-reappearance, and the disguises are humorously transparent. Slightly older kids may be somewhat too sophisticated for this predictable repetition; the Larry series--with its incongruous situations and sly wit-- is probably more appropriate.

Jill Pinkwater's illustrations are bright and captivating; she sets vivid, sometimes clashing colors against each other, and evokes the Arctic night. She also cleverly contrasts the rigid posture and certain lines of Officer Bunny with the furry and morally fuzzy contours of the two would-be muffin thieves. Her Arctic (and Bayonne, New Jersey) illustrations were drawn with felt tip markers and ink. For true Pinkwater fans, there's a nice picture of the couple (with their dog, or one of them, perhaps) on the back inside cover.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Twin Polars; bring the muffins, June 30, 2004

By 

W. K. Miller "kenmiller32" (NC, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Irving and Muktuk: Two Bad Bears (Hardcover)

It's got polar bears posing as penguins. It's got polar bears posing as girl scouts. The primary law enforcement officer is a bunny. The setting is a town called Yellowtooth.

Welcome to the twisted and hilarious world of Daniel Pinkwater. Irving and Muktuk are polar bears who want to steal muffins. In jerky and often funny prose, Pinkwater describes their repeated near-exploits. Always foiled by the bunny (who even utilizes a helicopter and a net to capture the villains), Irving and Muktuk never flag in their optimism or their enthusiasm for thievery. In the end, the ursine ladrónes are shipped off to Bayonne, New Jersey (The Muffin Capitol of the World, in case you failed to notice).

This is Pinkwater at his near-best (I still prefer the novel LIZARD MUSIC), so put your hands on a copy of IRVING AND MUKTUK today. You'll laugh until your ribs ache.

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbearably Clever, July 20, 2011

By 

Ohioan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Irving and Muktuk: Two Bad Bears (Irving & Muktuk Story) (Paperback)

This is a clever story, quite funny to anybody with a visual sense of humor, a sense of the absurd, and a love of language and story development. I particularly like the way the Pinkwaters handle the passing of time: there is no unnecessary slowness or clunkiness in the transitions. I also love how they play with different "goodbyes" from around the world. Irving and Muktuk are lovable characters: so smart and so stupid at one and the same time -- possibly a characteristic of all thieves. This is one of those books that appeals to both children and adults. The illustrations are wonderful, capturing just the right expressions on the faces of the two bears. A delightful, humorous story.