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From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

“It all started with the bear.” An unknown narrator weaves an impossible story to account for someone’s missing lunch in a picture book pairing a straightforward narrative with beautifully realized illustrations, whimsical in their impossibility. The bear, it seems, fell asleep in the back of a truck full of berries and ended up in a new forest (a city), where he found “climbing spots” (fire escapes, clothes lines between buildings), “good bark for scratching” (a brick-sided building), and “many interesting smells” (garbage cans). Eventually the bear got hungry, and there was the sandwich, all alone in the midst of leafy green (on a bench in a park). An already delightful story takes an even more waggish turn in its final pages when the identity of the speaker and subject are revealed: a small black dog (somewhat bear-like) pouring out the tall tale to a now lunch-less little girl. The warm, colorful acrylic and pencil illustrations are superb; their realistic accounting of the bear’s adventure will be a source of glee for young readers and listeners, as will the play between narrative and art. (Ages 3–6)

CCBC Choices 2016 © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2016. Used with permission.

From Booklist

January 1, 2015
Preschool-G By now I think you know what happened to your sandwich, begins the very unreliable narrator in this amusing picture book. His story? A woodland bear fell asleep in the back of a truck and awoke to find himself in the city. Searching for food, he made his way to the park, where he spied that beautiful and delicious sandwich. All alone. After devouring it, he noticed dogs watching him and quickly fled, leaping into a passing boat and eventually making his way home. The book's last pages reveal a dog telling the tale to a little girl. She may or may not see the holes in his story, but many young listeners will enjoy solving the mystery and pointing out the thief. The text is cleverly written, but much of the story unfolds wordlessly in the soft-focus watercolor-and-pencil illustrations, which glow with light and color. The city scenes reward attention with intriguing, sometimes comical details. This is a picture book that kids will want to hear again immediately, once they know who is telling the story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

From Horn Book

Starred review from January 1, 2015
"By now I think you know what happened to your sandwich. But you may not know how it happened." An offstage narrator spins this entertaining tale about the fate of a missing sandwich. The narrator's creative version of events begins with a hungry bear, a berry-eating binge, a postprandial nap in the back of a pickup truck, and an unexpected road trip to the big city. All the while, we see words at entertaining odds with the pictures: those "high cliffs" the bear notices are the skyscrapers in the big-city landscape to which the truck has inadvertently transported him. Sarcone-Roach uses a vibrant color palette in her impressionistic paintings, gleefully depicting the bear exploring unfamiliar terrain. To her credit, the question of the narrator's identity -- and reliability -- may not come up for readers until book's end. If they do wonder, the diverting story and illustrations help to keep it a surprise. After the bear returns to the forest, the silver-tongued narrator's subterfuge quickly falls apart, and the truth is unleashed ("Ruff! Ruff! Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!"). The book stands up to repeat readings; the illustrations (and endpapers) beg for more attention. kitty flynn

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

From School Library Journal

Starred review from December 1, 2014

PreS-Gr 2-"It all started with the bear," begins this story of what happened to a sandwich. Bear wakes up to the delectable aroma of freshly picked berries. He sniffs out a red truck, the back of which is filled with boxes of perfectly harvested berries. After having a berry party, Bear falls asleep. The truck drives him to a new forest-the city. When Bear begins to explore, he sees things in the city framed by his own experiences: a telephone pole becomes a tree, and bricks on the side of a building make great bark for scratching. In a park, he finds a lunchbox with a delicious sandwich, which he eats ravenously. When he climbs a tree, he can see his forest home in the distance and desperately wants to return. Somehow, he finds a boat, which carries him to the familiar sights and sounds of home. "So that's what happened to [the] sandwich." This is a fun story that children will enjoy, though they'll need to suspend logic a bit. The illustrations in this book are terrific: color-drenched and bold slashes that cover the pages. The funny Bear is sympathetic and is only doing what bears do-eating and sleeping. And making us laugh. This book is a fine addition to any collection.-Mary Hazelton, formerly at Warren & Waldoboro Elementary Schools, ME

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Publisher's Weekly

November 10, 2014
"By now I think you know what happened to your sandwich," begins the unseen narrator of Sarcone-Roach's (Subway Story) sly tale. "But you may not know how it happened.... It all started with the bear." The narrator spins a long, involved story about how a bear found its way to the city (and the sandwich), while warm, painterly acrylics show what's really going on. The bear finds himself a stowaway on a berry truck that passes "high cliffs" (readers see tall buildings) and arrives in "a new forest" (a lively city street). He makes the city his own, shinnying up fire escapes and riffling ruinously through the papers outside a newsstand, then arrives in the park: "There it was. Your beautiful and delicious sandwich. All alone." The bear gobbles it down and returns to bear country by boat. Or so the storyteller says-he's revealed to be the young sandwich owner's dog, and he might not be entirely trustworthy. The fabricated story and accompanying artwork stand nicely on their own, while the narrative frame delivers an extra comic kick in the pants. Ages 3â€"7. Agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeeen Literary Management.

From Kirkus

November 1, 2014
Who took the sandwich? An unseen narrator explains what became of a missing sandwich in an inventive selection that places the blame on a bear-but not in the way one might expect. Lured to a pickup truck by the scent of berries, a curious black bear dines and then falls asleep in its bed. While he snoozes, he is accidentally transported to an entirely new world. Mistaking the city before him for just a different forest, he ventures out, comically behaving as if investigating a woodland environment. The telephone poles might as well be trees, and the wet cement feels a lot like mud, after all. The text plays along with the bear's misconception, while the energetic and appealing acrylics show what the bear really sees and interacts with; children will delight in the details as well as the humor involved in spotting the disparities between the pictures and words. But wait-just who is telling this tall tale, anyway? And is said individual worthy of our trust? A trifle more explanation or pointed questioning would have made the story just about perfect, but as it stands, this enjoyable romp is sure to elicit giggles. Young readers and listeners will laugh out loud as they closely examine the pictures and find the jokes in this highly interactive urban adventure. (Picture book. 4-8)

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