Bear Outside
Thursday, May 6th, 2021
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Children like to imagine what animal they might be if they could tranform themselves. Their responses can tell you a lot about their personalities — or even their state of mind. Jane Yolen’s Bear Outside (Neal Porter Books/Holiday House, March 2021), illustrated by Jen Corace, is an intriguing take on this very notion — yet takes the idea even further. The book opens with: “Some folks have a lion inside, or a tiger. Not me.” And our narrator? It’s a child who wears “my bear on the outside. It’s like wearing a suit of armor. She keeps out the howls, the growls. She keeps me safe.”
