Bear on the Bed

The pint-sized camper in Ruth Miller's rhyming picture book has a lot to contend with. Not only is there a bear in her cabin, but this bear insists on snoozing, bouncing, dancing, and ultimately pooping on her bed. The chief flaw of this jokey narrative poem by the author of I Went to the Farm is its erratic use of poetic meter, which makes it difficult to read aloud. Lines like "He came into my cabin / (now, I hope you'll believe me), / He just came right in / (you might not believe me), / He just waltzed right in / (oh please, please believe me)!" barely scan at all. More rhythmic passages, such as "He wasn't too big / and he wasn't too small / And I don't really know / why he came in at all" are sing-songy at best. As a story, The Bear on the Bed offers little apart from its rather coarse punchline about a bear pooping. The girl's recitation of all that the bear could have been doing if he wasn't on her bed ("He could have gone rowing-- / Others were going") quickly becomes tedious. Some parents may also find the campground bathroom humour objectionable. Bill Slavin's zany illustrations and a creative use of typography make up for some of the limitations of The Bear on the Bed. But the truth is that it fails to live up to either the author's or the illustrator's talents. This is one story that should have been saved for sitting around the campfire. (Ages 5 to 8) --Lisa Alward