The Bear Whose Bones Were Jezebel Jones - Hardcover

Grade 1-3?A bear leaves its skin by the side of a lake when he goes for a swim to wash his bones, and when Jezebel comes along and finds it, she can't resist slipping into it. Unable to take it off (only bears can unzip their skins), she seeks help everywhere but can only say, "Grrr." Told in rhyme, the story thumps along until at last, in the zoo, a wise elephant solves the problem for both girl and bear. The layout and juxtaposition of text and pictures are skillful enough and the illustrations do closely follow the text, but the cartoons, done in gouache and pen, make all the characters, even the animals, look alike with ovoid goggle eyes and open mouths. When children tell each other stories, they often come up with outlandish and slightly gruesome ideas, and this tale has the earmarks of a story that a child might invent. Unfortunately, here it comes across as silly and somewhat disturbing.?Karen James, Louisville Free Public Library, KY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

As Grossman (The Banging Book, 1995, etc.) would have it, when a bear hops out of his skin to go snorkeling, Jezebel jumps in, and creates mayhem when people take her for a real grizzly. She scares her class and her mom, and then is dismayed to find that only the bear can unzip the suit. Luckily, the zoo animals see her own eyes peering from inside the bear's throat, and know she's an impostor. An elephant and a little dog help retrieve the bear's bones and free Jezebel. The rhyme starts out catchy, but sags in the middle, along with the plot. What works best here is the eccentric idea of a bear's bones taking a dip; Allen doesn't really explore this in the illustrations, which show a jumble of bones that looks like something the dog dug up, rather than a skinless bear who has been snorkeling. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.