by Moe Zilla

Created on: May 30, 2010

"One morning, bear heard a tap, tap, tapping on his front door..."

There's some very cute drawings of the bear's tidy home - and the sign on its front door that says "No Visitors Allowed."  Kady MacDonald Denton was 67 years old when she illustrated "A Visitor for Bear". But she delivers some wonderfully cozy watercolors (also using the heavier gouache style of watercolors, plus some ink).There's soft pastel colors on the walls, and the furniture, and even a multi-colored rug!

The bear looks very comfortable, and the bright colors give the book a happy tone. Denton draws the domestic-minded bear tying on an apron in the morning before he prepares his breakfast, and meticulously setting a place for himself with one cup and one spoon. He's interrupted by a knock on the door, and discovers it came from a skinny mouse with big, importuning eyes. "No visitors allowed, the bear grumbles, pointing to the sign. But when he opens the cupboard later for a breakfast bowl - he discovers the same mouse again!

The story by Bonny Becker would almost be too simple if it weren't for Denton's charming illustrations. The expressions she draws for the fussy big bear make it the perfect straight man for the cute and mischievous little mouse. "Perhaps we could have just a spot of tea?" the mouse asks politely, poking his smiling head from a bowl in the bear's cupboard. And while Becker writes that the bear "showed him to the door," Denton imagines the mouse escorted to the door while dangling from his tail between the two fingers of the determined bear - who's still wearing an apron!

Kurt Vonnegut once gave some great advice for short story writers: "Every character should want something." And it works for this story, since the determined bear is obviously very anxious to get back to his breakfast. He's startled when he opens the bread drawer, and discovers the mouse has quickly returned!  Throughout the book, Becker embellishes these surprises by always repeating the same description.

"There was the mouse! Small and gray and bright-eyed..."

Like a character from a classic cartoon, the bear boards up all his windows, and locks his front door. He even stops up the chimney and plugs his bathtub's drain. You can imagine the children waiting expectantly for the book's final surprise, as the bear warily opens his cupboard to check for the mouse - and then peeks into his bread drawer. There's no mouse in the refrigerator, and the bear smiles with delight.  And then he lifts the lid to his tea kettle. "There was the mouse!" Becker writes one more time. "Small and gray and, well, you know the rest."

But by the end of the book, the bear and the mouse have become friends.

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