Elspeth Lorraine

It’s finally here! The companion book to “Something's Wrong! A Bear, a Hare, and Some Underwear”, the book I have to have ready for my friend Megan whenever she comes to town. She’s probably gonna freak out when she reads this and finds there’s a second one. Hi Megan! Calm down! (Megan is not a child just as a P.S. which furthers my opinion that picture books are for all ages.)

Anders the hare has baked a beautiful pie to take on a picnic with his good buddy Jeff. He decides to go for a walk while it cools and OH NO! The rain is coming and his pie got wet and ruined and OH NO! Anders has slipped and fallen and the pie landed on himself. Jeff, who is an unaware but a sweet bear, comes over for the picnic and asks Anders if something is wrong. Jeff hasn’t noticed the pie or the mess or any part of Anders’ situation. Anders huffs, “Nothing’s Wrong” and they set off to picnic. Jeff can tell something is wrong and after asking and asking, he finally turns to the reader and shares his concerns about Anders’ behavior. When Anders is finally worn down by Jeff’s questions, he explains why he’s been acting upset all day. Jeff thanks him for opening up, the two bake a much larger pie together, and the other woodland creatures show up for a pie party. We learn that spending time with friends is the real treat. 

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Bits and Pieces: Jeff and Anders. Those names. Perfection. Anders is just the right type of name for a hare. And a bear named Jeff is almost as good. Jory, you’ve done it again. The way Jeff keeps asking Anders what’s wrong and prompting him to share and then “giving him space by talking about giving him space” was hilarious.

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Not Sure About: I still wanted Jeff to be wearing the underwear from the first book. But that’s just because underwear is hilarious. 

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Favorite Part: Anders and his somewhat loopy looking eyes. Erin uses woodcut printing and says “I love the process of carving my characters into the wood and seeing how their quirky and whimsical identities come to life through the ink in the prints.” Isn’t that cool? It’s truly a magical world we live in.