When we were at the
library this week my little sister, Margo, couldn’t wait to pick out some new
books. We’ve read and enjoyed Mother
Bruce by Ryan.T. Higgins, so I knew as soon as we saw Hotel Bruce it would be our pick.
I had no idea that
Bruce was the star of a picture book series. In his first book, Bruce, a grumpy
bear, accidentally becomes the mother of baby chicks. That’s what happens when a
bear loves eggs and those eggs actually hatch before he can cook them. Let’s
just say that Bruce tried everything he could NOT be the mother of the
chicks. But—nothing he did worked, and he tried some funny things. He was a
reluctant mom for sure.
Hotel Bruce continues right where the first book left off. Bruce and his goslings arrive back to his den
after their beach vacation. Unfortunately, they are not alone. It seems that
while Bruce was away relaxing from the demands of motherhood (or parenthood)
some mice had set up home in his den. The mice were out to make a buck or two
and had rented space to many other animals as well. Bruce may have had a chance
at getting rid of these unwanted guests, but the crafty mice put the goslings
to work as bellhops! Will Bruce lose his temper? Is there a way to get the
hotel guests to leave? Will he really be happy if they do leave? Read this
funny story to find out!
Margo and I especially
love the expressions on the faces of Bruce, the goslings, and other animals.
Since Margo is little, I think some of the humor went over her head. And based
on the way my father was laughing when we read it- I’m guessing some of it even
went over my head. We’re so excited that there are more books with Bruce. His
grumpy ways do get us laughing and we look forward to finding out what else he's up to and how he will try to solve his problems. I think this would be great
for parents and kids to read together. Fun for the whole family!
Has anyone else ever
read Mother Bruce or Hotel Bruce? Or have you read another
book by Ryan T. Higgins? We’d love to hear your thoughts!
Happy Reading!
~F
