Bearsuit Turtle Makes a Friend, a funny, absurd, instant classic

From the moment adults catch a glimpse of Bearsuit Turtle Makes a Friend they’ll suspect it’s a timeless illustrated book. The ‘bear’s’ mouth is black and glossy, begging for fingers and hands of any age to run across it. You are an adult, with a “real job”, decades past the enjoyment of such illustrated books, yet you just felt the book’s cover. Now you’re doing it again. The oversized, orange bear suit is stiff and is hosting an animal who is pretending to be a bear. Meanwhile, a friendly looking turtle, who is the same height as the green creature inside the bear suit, is looking at the bear with a dubious look on his face.

Stop the cuteness. My description of Bearsuit Turtle Makes a Friend doesn’t do it justice. The background on every page is a different color, mirroring the mood that the characters are going throug.  One reason for that is because of the muted orange background and the texture of the book’s pages. The pages feel like something classic. I’m certain the books I loved as a kid had that same tactile sensation. It triggers a long-dormant Pavlovian response that instinctively makes older readers smell the book. Those younger Bearsuit Turtle readers will be drawn to do the same, by whatever scratch-and-sniff magic is weaved into the fibers of its pages.

The art by Bob Shea channels a classic vibe. This is art that’s as timeless and at-home today as it was in 1950, the 70s or 90s. The illustrations run between close-up drawings of a ‘for-real turtle’ or ice cream, to the more distant shot of two animals fighting, playing, and figuring out the delicate process of making and being a friend. I remember having a book with illustrations that evoked this response, and I still get warm feelings when I see that book in elementary school libraries or on bookshelves.

The turtle in the bearsuit is pretending to be a bear. It does overtly bear things, like climbing trees, but only when the turtle closes its eyes. They ‘hibernate’ very quickly, only to be woken up, mockingly saying that it didn’t sleep enough. It growls and forages for food by eating ice cream with a friend. After the bearsuit turtle ‘passes’ all of these real bear tests, the turtle suggests they do some things that turtles like to do.

And turtles love swimming, don’t they? This leads to a brief impasse where bearsuit turtle admits to maybe also being a turtle. The for-real turtle feigns shock, assures him that turtles love swimming and the two friends splash each other in the lake, with the turtlesuit on shore.

Bearsuit Turtle Makes a Friend is an instant classic. Sometimes we’ll talk about books that run with energy, and why that particular one will resonate with young audiences. Bearsuit Turtle has loads of energy, but it runs with happiness. Young readers, or adults who read this book aloud will be grinning from the moment they look at the cover. The grin, or smile, depending on your overall state of happiness, will continue until the last illustration. The final two pages shows the two turtle friends laying down in a field, reminiscing about the fun day they had together. The two are shown in the lower right corner as small figures amidst a massive swath of grass. It’s a perfectly sublime way to finish an illustrated book that will happily live in your forever bookshelf until the next time you pick it up.

Bearsuit Turtle Makes a Friend is by Bob Shea and is available on Abrams Books for Young Readers.

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