{"id":45254,"date":"2025-05-20T23:43:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T03:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=45254"},"modified":"2025-05-20T23:43:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T03:43:19","slug":"review-of-bearsuit-turtle-makes-a-friend-by-bob-shea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=45254","title":{"rendered":"Review of Bearsuit Turtle Makes a Friend, by Bob Shea"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Bearsuit Turtle Makes a Friend<\/em><\/p>\n

by Bob Shea<\/p>\n

Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2025. 40 pages.
\nReview written May 20, 2025, from a library book.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

This book is. So. Silly. I love it!<\/p>\n

This is a book with a bizarre situation, played straight. You really do have to read it yourself (or in story time!) to fully appreciate it. But I’ll give you the idea.<\/p>\n

The main character is in a bear suit with a very large mouth. You can see a green head centered in the mouth. We figure out from the title this is Bearsuit Turtle.<\/p>\n

As the book begins, Bearsuit Turtle is sitting on a swing, hanging still. We see another turtle coming out of the trees, and Bearsuit Turtle says, “Hey, gimme a push.”<\/p>\n

But when we turn the page, we get this exchange:<\/p>\n

Be careful, I’m a for-real bear. Scary, right?<\/p>\n

No way! I’m a for-real bear expert, and you are NOT a for-real bear.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But Bearsuit Turtle has evidence!<\/p>\n

Oh yeah? Got any honey?<\/p>\n

No.<\/p>\n

That’s because I ate it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Other evidence includes climbing a tree to the top and back to the bottom while the other turtle’s eyes are closed (because bears don’t like to show off).<\/p>\n

The turtle is still skeptical, since he could be a super-round squirrel, but then Bearsuit Turtle hibernates on command.<\/p>\n

So then they start doing things that the for-real bear expert says bears like to do – foraging (getting ice cream at a truck), bicycling, and smashing pumpkins.<\/p>\n

But when something comes up that the expert doesn’t know if bears like – they both make a confession.<\/p>\n

I hope I’m not destroying the suspense if I quote my very favorite page:<\/p>\n

It’s okay. I also have something shocking to share.<\/p>\n

Look, there’s no good way to say this, but I’m not just a for-real bear. I’m pretty sure I’m maybe also a turtle.<\/p>\n

A WHAT? This day has been a roller coaster. I don’t even know what to believe anymore.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But one thing the new friends do know – they truly enjoy doing things together.<\/p>\n

So much fun. So silly. Try this one out with a kid.<\/p>\n

BobShea.com<\/a>
\nabramsbooks.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Picture_Books\/bearsuit_turtle_makes_a_friend.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bearsuit Turtle Makes a Friend by Bob Shea Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2025. 40 pages. Review written May 20, 2025, from a library book. Starred Review This book is. So. Silly. I love it! This is a book with a bizarre situation, played straight. You really do have to read it yourself (or in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,15,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-delightfully-silly","category-picture-book-review","category-starred-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45254"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45257,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45254\/revisions\/45257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}