Glad, Glad Bear!

In this companion to Gee’s earlier and well-esteemed title, Mad, Mad Bear!, this time Bear is glad—glad to have new leggings, slippers, and a tutu, because today is his first day of dance class. He’s very excited to put on his dance clothes and head out the door, but once he sees inside the dance studio’s window, he starts to feel a little nervous, shy, and afraid—though the reason for these feelings is left up to interpretation. As he’s feeling nervous, the music starts, and bear starts to feel “light,” “bubbly,” and “twirly.” His love of dancing makes him feel comfortable, and he ends the class feeling very glad he went. With the simple and straightforward storyline, unadorned and average illustrations, and little amount of text (many pages only contain one word), this book would either be better suited in a board book format or with a supplemented storyline. Bear’s happily sporting his tutu is perhaps the only noteworthy aspect of the rather unremarkable story of a timid bear facing his fears, placing this book lower in the ranks in the genre of books challenging gender stereotypes.