Let's Scare Bear

“Let’’s scare bear!” says the tiny mouse. But the pint-size bully’’s plan backfires in this riff on a Japanese folktale.

An ALA Notable Children’’s Book

Mouse, Fox, Spider, and Snake all want to scare Bear. But Bear is the bravest animal in the forest–nothing scares Bear.

Except, maybe, one thing.

Bear says that he’’s scared of manju cakes. Armed with that knowledge, the animals hatch a plan to scare Bear with manju cakes. . . . lots and lots of them. . . . only to learn that the only scary thing is how much Bear loves to eat them!

Yuko Katakawa’’s bright art is full of detail and humor, from Snake’’s bow and glasses to Spider’’s web-spun comments on their ill-fated tricks. Based on “Scary Manju,” a tale in the Japanese oral tradition known as rakugo, Let’’s Scare Bear is a trickster tale that reminds us that bullies come in all shapes and sizes–and that when we share instead, everyone wins.