Bossy Bear
Written and illustrated by David Horvath
Hyperion Books for Children; $12.99
32 pp.; ISBN-13: 978-1423103363

Review by Amy Brozio-Andrews

Sometimes, it's hard to recognize a certain behavior pattern in yourself until you experience it in someone else. Such is the case for Bossy Bear, decked out in gold crown and ermine cape, blissfully unaware of how demanding he is.

Bossy Bear tells people what to do all day long; nothing is satisfactory unless it's his way. Whether it's in his room, standing in line, sitting at the table, or even crossing the street, in every situation it's "more" or "gimme" or "faster," "do this" or "stop that." It's not until two of Bossy Bear's little friends decline to play with him rather than put up with his obnoxious behavior that the slightest glimmer of acknowledgement occurs.

Bossy Bear, suddenly alone (and strikingly so, looking small on the blank page with an empty facing page), decides to test this new theory upon meeting a new friend. He demands the little turtle's balloon. The turtle immediately complies. Puzzled, the bear asks if he's bossy. Yep, the turtle tells him, he is bossy: "But you don't have to be." The revelation finally fully realized, Bossy Bear presents his new friend with a crown of his own. But the shoe's suddenly on the other foot-- has he created a monster?

David Horvath, the co-creator of the Uglydolls with his wife Sun-Min Kim, has written and illustrated a picture book for young readers that will be immediately engaging to fans of the toys. With similarly styled artwork, Bossy Bear is quite familiar. Even kids who don't know the Uglydolls can find appeal in the bright colors and simple illustrations, ever so slightly reminiscent of Mo Willems and his pigeon. For children just learning letters and able to generally follow along with the text, the increasing size of the capitalized text of Bossy Bear's speech and the smaller, properly upper- and lowercased text of his friends' speech echoes the pace and mood of the narrative.

The strongly visual story takes places in familiar settings and situations, making the story readily accessible and easy to understand for young readers, who may experience the same feelings as Bossy himself. Bossy Bear wants someone to clean his room; he wants the line to move faster; he wants presents and toys; and for his friends to play the games he wants to play and how he wants to play them. The spare drawings, free of minute detail, keep little kids focused on the story itself and allow for a variable pace in the telling (one of my kids can't turn the pages fast enough when being read to -- with Bossy Bear, she can happy flip pages and still get the story, albeit quickly (no worries, it's not like we won't be reading again ten times before the day is out)).

The topic is spot on for its intended audience of nursery and pre-schoolers, the prime age for increased interaction with peers and the opportunity for bossy behavior. Never condescending or heavily instructive, the moral is still very clear from the narrative and gives parents the perfect opening, if needed, for discussing domineering behavior with their own kids.