Bear wants to sing his song, but the other animals won't give him a chance to perform his masterwork in this delightful picture book companion to the critically acclaimed King Mouse.

A bear finds a ukulele in the woods. It makes a nice sound — PLINK! — and inspires him to write his own song. His friend Mouse would love to hear it. But Bear isn't the only animal in the forest to find musical inspiration that day, and Snake, Crow and Tortoise keep taking his turn to perform. When they finally give him the opportunity and meet his song with less enthusiasm than he'd like, the discouraged bear shelves his music career forever…but the kindness, empathy and appreciation of his best friend will prove that his art deserves recognition and can even inspire others.

This dryly humorous and sweetly profound collaboration between two critically acclaimed children's book creators, a follow-up to the masterful King Mouse, has the makings of a modern classic. (From Tundra Books)

Cary Fagan is an Ontario author of books for adults and children. His children's books include the popular Kaspar Snit novels, the two-volume Master Melville's Medicine Show and the picture book Mr. Zinger's Hat. He is also the author of the novel A Bird's Eye, a finalist for the Rogers Trust Fiction Prize and was an Amazon.ca Best Book of the Year, and the short story collection My Life Among the Apes. In 2014, Fagan received the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People for his body of work. His 2019 novel, The Student, was a finalist for both the Toronto Book Award and the Governor General's Literary Award.

Dena Seiferling is a Canadian illustrator of children's books and needle-felt artist based in Calgary.