A Perfect Day

The story, of few words and atmospheric illustrations, begins in the warmth of a tranquil spring garden. The sun shines hazily. A cat dozes in the flower beds, a dog cools in his paddling pool, a bird pecks at seed on the feeder and a helpful boy throws out a corncob for the visiting squirrel. A perfect day. But not for long. Enter a bear, striding out of the wide white page margin, stage left. And now, for everyone else, it is a perfect day no longer, as bear guzzles the corncob, tips the bird seed down his throat, pours the paddling pool water over his head, rolls gloriously in the flower bed and falls contentedly asleep. A perfect day for bear. With great economy and huge enjoyment, Lane Smith conveys both the familiar joys of garden life in the sun and the excitement of its unlooked-for rumbustious disruption.