Grouchy Bruce the bear didn't like holidays. He didn't like Easter, Christmas, or Thanksgiving, and he definitely didn't like Halloween! When his family of mice and geese decide to correct this issue by enacting a retelling of The Legend of Soggy Hollow, with Bruce in the leading role of Ichabod Bruce, things don't go quite to plan. As Bruce flees from his "intended," the lovely Miss Camilla van Moofle (played by a moose), he encounters the real horseless horseman in the woods...

A clear send-up of Washington Irving's classic tale of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, this eighth picture book about Bruce the bear and the geese and mice he cares for was a hoot! Bruce and the Legend of Soggy Hollow pairs an amusing narrative, full of silly humor children will find entertaining—fleeing from kisses, inadvertently falling in with a real ghost—with appealing artwork that ably captures the zany hijinks in the text. I'm reading this one out of season, as it has been on request at my library since I discovered its existence, and it only recently became available. That said, it was still quite entertaining, regardless of the time of year, and is one I would recommend to picture book readers who have enjoyed other tales about this blustery bear and his unconventional family. ( )