Off We Go!: A Bear and Mole Story

PreS-Gr 1—In their third adventure, Bear and Mole are preparing for an excursion. Mole decides that today is the day to remove the training wheels from his bike. Using a series of two-word sentences packed with vocabulary-stretching verbs ("removed," "tugged," "hoisted"), the friends get ready to start out. "Mole kicked off. Bear pushed. Wobble. Wobble. Wobble. Crash. Mole sobbed, 'I quit.'" With Bear's encouragement, Mole tries again and successfully bikes all the way to their destination, with Bear frantically trying to keep up and all manner of creatures fleeing from Mole's path. Finally, with a crash and a triumphant, "I did it!" they arrive at the Storymobile. Mole's eagerness, safety regimen, and difficulties will be familiar and comforting to beginning cyclists. The broad, soft outlines, expressive characters, and autumnal palette give the story a gentle tone, even when Mole is wildly careening about. Although the process of learning to ride a bike is truncated, the message of not giving up and working at something is an important one, and there is certainly room for more books on the subject.—Anna Haase Krueger, Ramsey County Library, White Bear Lake, MN