The Horn Book Guide

PRESCHOOL

Austin, Margot

A Friend for Growl Bear

32 pp. | HarperCollins | February, 1999 | Trade ISBN 0-06-027802-1 $$14.95
1951, Dutton

(2) PS Illustrated by David McPhail. Young Growl Bear spends his lonely days wishing for a friend. Sadly misunderstood, he has scared all the forest animals with his only utterance--"Gr-r-r-r-r-r-r!" Finally, Old Owl realizes the cub is simply too young to have learned how to speak yet. McPhail's warm ocher-washed watercolor and pen-and-ink artwork newly illustrates the affecting story, adapted from Austin's Growl Bear.

Reviewer: Liza Woodruff | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 1999