Bear is a sad bear, burnout on farm work and beside himself with mild depression. Mean old Fox thinks he can cash in on Bear's down luck, but it turns out the "Donkey Egg" is exactly what Bear needed to spark his spirit. Hare, a true friend, tries to help Bear to see the positive side of events that follow and encourages Bear to play a trick on mean old Fox ( )

This book is a funny tale about Bear, Hare, Fox and a donkey egg, which turns out to be a watermelon. Surprise, surprise. Fox tricks Bear into thinking that donkeys come from eggs and that the watermelon is an egg. Poor Bear spends day and night trying to take care of the egg until it gets loose, crashes, and breaks apart. Bear and Hare decide to plant the watermelon seeds on the farm. Bear and Hare sell the watermelons for a donkey. Bear and Hare outsmart the Fox and now Fox sits on a watermelon patiently waiting for a donkey. The tricky Fox is not as tricky as he thought! ( )

Fox convinces Bear he needs a donkey to help spruce up the property and sells him a $20 "donkey egg," which looks a lot like a watermelon. All Bear has to do is keep the egg “warm, safe and happy” until it hatches. Hare takes a break from another race against tortoise, who can be seen trekking along in the background, to inform Bear that donkeys do not, in fact, come from eggs. Nevertheless, Bear takes his responsibility seriously, so he sits on the egg, reads to it, sings to it, and plays peek-a-boo with it while waiting for the big reveal. The text is mostly dialogue with short rhymes included here and there, and the mixed-media illustrations, packed with funny details, are a joy to explore. What Bear does when his egg finally “hatches” is classic, and leaves Fox scratching his head in wonder. Interspersed throughout are “Did You Know?” inserts that explain time increments from a second to a month and what occurs within each. ( )

and other books by Stevens