A book about a bear, a penguin, a princess, a wolf, a troll, a dragon, a sausage and they want to tell the reader their stories. A read-aloud book for children.

Several short once upon a time stories are read by a bear and he provides humorous commentary as he reads. He decides the stories aren't good enough so he takes over the writing. This was a humorous story with fractured fairy tales that I could easily use with my fifth graders to discuss good traits for writing. ( )

The creators of Mockingbird here serve up an appetising series of "Once upon a time..." short takes that lead whimsically into one another. The title character offers a disparaging commentary on the initial entries ("What's going on?"; "This is ridiculous"), then decides he will take over the writing. The ursine hero puts himself in the spotlight as he rescues Red Riding Hood and her grandmother from the wolf, bests the troll under a bridge and ties up a dragon that is "eating everything--left, right, and center--and setting fire to things." As part of his reward, the victorious bear receives the princess's hand in marriage, though the pigtailed royal will have none of it ("Anyway, I'm not marrying a bear"). In turn, she pens her own tale, in which she shirks footmen, French maids and princes and moves "into an apartment with a couple of friends, started a career in television--and went shopping." In addition to the villains, a penguin and a sausage who aspires to be a chef play supporting roles in this kid-tickling, episodic narrative that mixes familiar and never-before-seen characters (a sausage that cooks?), plot twists and bustling watercolor and pencil art into a silly and satisfying stew. Ages 6-8.

This book about bears won't be every child's cup of tea, but sophisticated listeners who know their nursery rhymes and the story of The Three Bears will find Ahlberg's improvisations lots of good fun. Amid the sight jokes and banter, there is a serious question that surfaces: what elements comprise a good story? And when does a story become too much of a story? Some listeners may even be inspired to try bear stories of their own. Paul Howard's freewheeling illustrations are as zany as Ahlberg's manic, slapstick text.