From School Library Journal
PreSchool-K-The action begins promptly on the title page as a boy prepares to pounce on his father, who sits quietly reading the newspaper. What follows is an affectionate, rough-and-tumble exchange between the two as they engage in physical play. The little boy pretends to be a bear and his father becomes "a Big Hairy Monster Bear!" Jonell's realistic dialogue and Rand's animated, skillfully rendered illustrations seize what is often unique to a father-son relationship-aggressive yet playful roughhousing. The little boy's enthusiasm as he and his dad morph in and out of their bear bodies is enhanced by the text that rolls and dances across the double-page spreads. The endpapers feature the pair in various poses of rowdy fun. This is an excellent addition to any collection, and would be a terrific read-aloud for small-group storytimes.
Linda M. Kenton, Palo Alto City Library, CA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
So closely is Jonell's work associated with Petra Mathers's art (It's My Birthday, Too!, 1999, etc.) that this pairingwith Randseems unfamiliar and disquietingbut only initially. A little boy interrupts his father's reading of the newspaper by pouncing on the couch with a not-to-be-ignored invitation: ``Let's play rough, Daddy!'' As the typography joins in the frolic, Daddy typifies his son as a bouncy puppy and an ear-pulling little monkey, then tops the boy's claim of being a bear with the assertion that he is ``a Big Hairy Monster Bear!'' A spirited free-for-all ensues, with the larger bear grabbing, tossing, tickling, and tumbling the cub in morphing illustrations done to perfection by Rand. The big bear's teeth show alarmingly as he says that he eats small bears, so it's no wonder that the boy calls a halt to the game, welcomes a hug, and then demands to play rough again. That conclusion is not unprecedented; Max, in Rosemary Wells's Max's Birthday, demands another go at a scary situation, but Jonell is undeniably on target. She keeps the tone light, while the animation expressed in the illustrations would not have been possible with the stick figures of the previous books. (Picture book. 2-6) --
Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
