THE VALENTINE BEARS
illustrated by Jan Brett & by Eve Bunting
For just one moment, lightning almost strikes: Mrs. Bear, settling in for the winter, set the alarm early—for February 14—so she and Mr. Bear could, for once, celebrate Valentine's Day. But when she rises, goes out in the unaccustomed cold, and prepares a Valentine breakfast for Mr. Bear, he won't be awakened and he won't get up. So what does this loving, Valentine-proferring spouse do? She goes for a can of ice water—whereupon Mr. Bear springs up and hugs her and says it was all a joke, he even had a present (chocolate-covered ants) tucked away and waiting. Now if she had let him go back to sleep, that would have been true love. A banal conceit, and unappealing pictures.