Sometimes We Fall

A young bear literally looks up to its mother in this reassuring picture book about learning to take risks. A mother bear perches in a plum tree amid a field of golden, waving grasses, where her cub sits, longing for the delicious-looking plums above: “It’s a problem when you want a purple plum, too.” As the pages turn, de Sève (This Story Is Not About a Kitten) describes the plums with accumulating adjectives that hint at the cub’s desire for the “sweet-smelling, juicy, ripe purple fruit.” But as the cub contemplates joining Mama, it ruminates on possible perils: the leap upward could fall short, and the climb might result in scrapes, or even a tumble from the branches. Sanguine Mama doesn’t minimize the cub’s anxieties, reiterating the idea that “sometimes we wobble” and also that “it’s okay.” Finally, the cub climbs, reaches for a plum, and falls— Gardiner (Small Places, Close to Home) catches the endearingly ungraceful tumble in midair—but a plum drops, too, and one taste is motivation enough for the cub to dust off and try again. The spare text’s voices—Mama’s is soothing, the cub’s more apprehensive—honor the duo’s differing points of view, while gouache and colored pencil art with elegant shapes and subtle earth tones offer lovely, ongoing visual consolation and comfort. Ages 4–8. Agent (for author and illustrator): Steven Malk, Writers House. (Aug.)