With the success of The Muppets last fall, Disney has started publishing picture books to get the characters back onto bookshelves and into peoples homes.  And probably make a few bucks.  The first of these came out last spring, Martha T. Ottersley's Green and Bear It.  A fun story focusing on Fozzie Bear, it really pops with illustrations from Amy Mebberson--a fan favorite who knows and loves these characters as much as I do.

After another failed attempt at comedy, Fozzie Bear decides he needs some good luck.  He tries to get a rabbit foot (from rarely seen Muppet Bean Bunny), a horseshoe (but this horse has switched to high-tops), and eventually decides to try to find a four-leaf clover.  He ends up recruiting the help of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker--so you know this will end well.  

The results are disastrous, with Bunsen and Beaker's cloning machine producing four-leaf clover that take over the Muppet Theater and the city--but the Muppets find a way to save the day.  

It's nice to have a Muppet book that doesn't center on Kermit the Frog or Miss Piggy, although both make appearances in this book.  This is very much Fozzie Bear's story, and there are enough bad jokes and puns in it to make you groan and your kids giggle.  Other Muppets, like Gonzo and Camilla, Sweetums and Scooter make appearances here--and Mebberson even inserts an adult version of Skeeter--Scooter's twin sister from Muppet Babies--in the background towards the end of the book.  The artwork is vibrant and stylized, without being too cartoony--I've been a fan of Mebberson's work for years now, and she's the perfect pick to illustrate these books.

The book has an Earth Day theme, which seems a bit odd, but not out of character for the Muppets.  My boys (ages 7 and 10) both enjoyed the book, and laughed at the story, the jokes, and the eventual solution to Fozzie Bear's problem.  There's even a page of reusable stickers inside the back cover, that have been used liberally on projects since we picked up the book.

If you're a fan of the Muppets, this was a fun picture book that kids would enjoy.  It's also the first of several Muppet books that have been announced for this year, with seven different titles coming in the next six months.  These include more picture books from Ottersley and Mebberson, some readers, another Tales of a Sixth Grade Muppet book, and a rerelease of Before You Leap: A Frog's-Eye View of Life's Greatest Lessons.  

Recommended: Yes