Spring is here, and Bear is finally emerging from his hollow to greet his forest friends. Suddenly, he hears beautiful singing coming from above. It's Bird, practicing for the forest Opera! When Bird tells Bear that she's auditioning for a duet, Bear decides to try out as well, and asks if he can practice with her. Bird agrees, and as the pair rehearses their song, an unlikely friendship begins.

After the audition, Bird is cast in the opera—but Bear is not. Devastated, Bear returns to his hollow to hide. Bird comes to comfort him and insists that the pair are still a duet, with or without a stage to sing on. Reassured of their close bond, Bear celebrates Bird's success at the Opera, getting the best seat in the house and quietly singing along with his friend.

This tender celebration of loyalty, friendship, and song is brought to life with Judith Henderson's lyrical text and the soft, magical illustrations of Nahid Kazemi. Together, Bird and Bear face the music and find that the strongest connections can weather the most difficult disappointments with empathy, resilience, and mutual support.

Love Is in the Bear is for ages 4 to 7.

Judith Henderson is a Montreal award-winning children's TV composer and producer. Henderson is also the author of the Big Words Small Stories series and Dee and Apostrofee.

Nahid Kazemi is an Iranian Canadian multi-disciplinary artist, author-illustrator from Montreal. Some of her other works include I'm Glad That You're Happy which she also wrote, and The Sour Cherry Tree by Naseem Hrab which Kazemi illustrated and won the 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature — illustrated books.