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YOUNGER FICTION
Jarvis,

Bear and Bird: The Cave and Other Stories

64 pp. | Candlewick | May, 2025 | Trade ISBN 9781536239423 $15.99 | Paper ISBN 9781536246476  $5.99 | Ebook ISBN 9781536244625 $5.99
(2) 1-3 With four new stories, Jarvis continues to give young readers the emotionally satisfying, highly readable tales characteristic of the series. In "The Test," Bird investigates her friend Bear to make sure that he is indeed who he claims to be, rather than his almost identical cousin. By the end, they have smoothed their friendship hiccup, while readers are invited to ponder a more philosophical question: how do you really know that your friend is themself? The two celebrate together in "The Day" even though each comes to the wrong conclusion about why the date is circled on the calendar. In "The Cave," when the ball they are playing with rolls into a creepy cave, they bravely enter, only to discover the rumors of stinky goo and talking mushrooms are untrue. "The Umbrella" features a magical (or is it?) conveyance. Jarvis's digital illustrations, with their soft edges and simple lines, perfectly match the gentle tone of the stories; even the entrance to the creepy cave is not too scary.
Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2025

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