(2) PS Bruce the bear's family of mice and geese tries to get him in the Halloween mood by acting out "The Legend of Soggy Hollow." Mouse Nibbs is the Horseless Horseman (complete with jack-o'-lantern head) and reluctant Bruce plays protagonist "Icky Bob." A romantic scene with Camilla the moose sends him fleeing from her into the forest...alongside the real Horseless Horseman of Soggy Hollow. This tongue-in-cheek retelling of Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is cleverly faithful to the source material and an excellent addition to the Mother Bruce series. Amusing speech-bubble dialogue, animated character reactions, and seasonally hued action-packed panels help build Higgins's story to a spirited ending for all involved, including readers.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(2) PS Porcupine Norman likes that it's just him and his best friend Mildred, a tree (yup, a tree), so when a new tree sprouts one day next to Mildred, Norman naturally gets a bit defensive: "And WHO is THAT?!" Before, it was Norman and Mildred who "did everything together" (e.g., play ball, watch birds); now, Norman watches as "Mildred and the other tree grew closer" and worries, "What if Mildred LIKED the other tree MORE...?!" Although the psychodrama is all in Norman's head, he devises an elaborate plan to dig up the sapling in the dead of night and take it "very, very far away." Yet things are no longer the same with Mildred, leading to a change of heart for Norman; his guilt guides him "to try and undo what he had done" and accept now being a trio of friends. But will everyone be happy with that arrangement? In typical ­Higgins style, a humorous twist at the end is just one of many entertaining touches, including the premise of ­porcupine-and-tree best friends and their one-sided interactions. Varied layouts in the thick-lined digital illustrations and humorous ­speech-bubble dialogue ("I have hit rock bottom!" Norman says upon falling into the hole he created when uprooting the sapling) play off and expand upon the ­matter-of-fact ­narration. Rotund little Norman's many expressions and movements add personality and charm, making him more lovable than naughty, akin to Higgins's protagonist in his Penelope Rex books (most recently, We Will Rock Our Classmates, rev. 7/20).

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

(2) PS Little Bruce series. Poor Bruce. The mice of Soggy Hollow keep surprising the grumpy unibrowed bear (from Mother Bruce, etc.) by ruining different parts of the surprise autumn feast he was cooking for them. His stew becomes their foot bath, the peas are used for "pea-pong," the gravy slide...well, it's a mess. And, oh yeah, let's not forget that they invite a wet moose for dinner! When Bruce unsurprisingly has nothing to serve, laughing listeners may join in to shout the titular phrase. Higgins's comedic timing is spot-on in the pithy text and the textured illustrations, which include a pumpkin stuck on one mouse's head and a can of Ocean Spray look-alike "Sea Sneeze Cranberry Sauce." Here's something to be thankful for this ­Thanksgiving: more Bruce!

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

(2) K-3 This second installment about T. rex Penelope (We Don't Eat Our Classmates, rev. 9/18) centers on the school talent show. Penelope loves to rock and roll, and using her "bravest purple marker," she signs up to perform--but her anxieties get the best of her ("Can dinosaurs even play guitar?" asks an unhelpful schoolmate). It isn't until Daddy Rex gives her a pep talk ("Being a T. rex is only part of who you are") and shows her a family photo album spotlighting her ancestors' varied achievements (including competitive eating and figure skating) that Penelope gets the courage to try again. Higgins employs thick lines and lush hues in illustrations "created using scans of treated clayboard for textures, graphite, ink, and Photoshop." Strong use of scale and perspective effectively emphasizes the otherness Penelope feels. A mixture of layouts and formats paces the visual narrative steadily, complementing the rhythmic and spirited text. Humorous asides appear in speech balloons, with dialogue adding depth to both story line and characters. The cast of humans reflects a variety of racial identities, physical abilities, sizes, ages, and religions. Endpapers feature a classroom clothesline display adorned with artwork made by real-life children (the author thanks them in the dedication).

Reviewer: Elisa Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2020

(2) K-3 Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! series. Illustrated by Ryan T. Higgins & Mo Willems. Tiger is BIG. Tiger is BRAVE. Tiger is afraid of nothing..."except worms." Tiger, a plush Calvin and Hobbes-ian animal with no taste for subtlety, tells us just what makes these creatures so terrifying: "Worms are slimy. Worms like to wiggle. And you cannot tell their tops from their bottoms!" Tiger is momentarily distracted from its fear by, successively, pretty flowers, an apple, and a book, but the remembered possibility of worms at every turn ("Flowers grow in dirt...Worms love dirt...") sends Tiger screaming. In an entertaining twist, some tiger-fearing worms get over their own apprehensions to help with Tiger's phobia: "Let's give that nice tiger a worm hug!" Tiger's overblown reactions make for hilarious page-turns in Higgins's high-action illustrations. Early readers will find support in the repetitive text and relish the many exclamations and sound effects ("CRRR-UNCH!"). Framed by two spreads of groan-inducing puns from Willems's Elephant and Piggie, Higgins's easy reader is funny from top to bottom.

Reviewer: Grace McKinney | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2020

(3) K-3 World of Reading series. In their entertaining first easy reader, Mouse Nibbs has a mission: put a smile on the face of ill-tempered bear-caregiver Bruce. Breakfast in bed (and syrup in fur), a picnic (ants in the sandwiches), etc.--"Big Fun Day" is a bust for Bruce...or is it? As always, Higgins's sight-gag-filled art allows readers to look past Bruce's furrowed unibrow to the cuddly pushover underneath.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) PS A storm is brewing, and choleric black bear Bruce wants to wait it out alone at home; Soggy Hollow's animals, who aren't great at reading signals, invite themselves over. As fans of the humorous Bruce books know, underneath the unibrow and blue-black fur is a softy--note the wordless panel showing his paw reaching up to save a storm-tossed bunny.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) PS The unibrowed bear (from Mother Bruce etc.) is back and, true to form, he would rather sleep through Christmas than enjoy it ("Bruce did not like cheer"). But then the adorable forest critters mistake Bruce's red shoveling getup for a Santa suit... Expect the usual laughs from Higgins (including terrific sight- and speech-bubble gags)--just don't expect Bruce to crack a smile.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(1) PS On the first day of school, Tyrannosaurus rex Penelope does what any nervous dino would do: she eats her human classmates (then spits them out). Then the class goldfish takes a bite of her finger: "Once Penelope found out what it was like to be someone's snack, she lost her appetite for children." Higgins builds his humorous, soft-around-the-edges cast out of dinosaurishly lumpy-craggy art.

Reviewer: Nell Beram | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2018

(3) PS Having given up on trying to get rid of his mice houseguests, curmudgeonly "mother bear" Bruce finds a new house for just himself and his four geese--or so he thinks. Like its predecessors (Mother Bruce; Hotel Bruce), this book's humor derives from the clash between narration and art (e.g., "Bruce was happy" shows him looking only fractionally less annoyed than usual).

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) K-3 Mouse Rupert (Hotel Bruce) announces his high-minded ambition to make a wordless book. Things quickly go awry, however: chatterbox mice Nibbs and Thistle do nothing but talk, while Rupert yells for quiet. Higgins's take on metafiction is very funny, and his personality-plus characters offer lots of visual humor. Dialogue speech bubbles on every page reinforce how far the book veers from Rupert's aesthetic vision.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2017

(3) PS When last we left the Ed Asner–esque bear Bruce, he was stuck parenting some goslings (Mother Bruce). Now his patience is tested further: woodland creatures have transformed his home into a hotel. (Rest assured, he's still a pushover.) Once again there's one laugh per page, from either the understated writing or a visual gag (see a steaming-mad Bruce in a bellhop getup).

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) PS Bear Bruce, a curmudgeonly loner, intends to cook the goose eggs he has gathered, but when they hatch ("MAMA!") he must forgo cooking for parenting. Almost every page offers a laugh, and the illustrations play hilariously to the narrative's understatement (e.g., "Bruce was stuck with them" describes an illustration of Bruce pinned to the ground by four goslings).

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Lonely (and hairy) giant Wilfred tries to befriend a town of bald citizens, but all run away in fear--except for one boy. After the townspeople scheme to use Wilfred's hair to make head-warming wigs for themselves, they are schooled in compassion. This clever and unexpectedly funny morality play is further warmed by the thoughtful digitally colored pen-and-ink drawings displaying every nuanced emotion.

Reviewer: Nell Beram