Super Happy Party Bears: Gnawing Around

Super Happy Party Bears #1

by Marcie Colleen, Marcie Colleen

To the Super Happy Party Bears, everything is a good thing. Their entire attitude can be summed up in one word: YAY! They love doughnuts, dancing, and above all else—a good party. Not so for the rest of the animals living in the Grumpy Woods. They find the bears terribly annoying.

When a few beavers come to town, the Grumpy Woods are even grumpier than usual. These beavers are drying up their river with their dam . . . the beavers are ruining everything! They must leave—it is decreed!

But the Super Happy Party Bears just love the beavers! As the Grumpy Woods scheme to unwelcome them, the Super Happy Party Bears throw them a housewarming party that will prove dancing can always save the day.

Genres: Chapter Books, Humor, Childrens, Animals, Fiction, 1st Grade, Middle Grade

144 pages, Paperback

Published September 6, 2016

About the author

Marcie Colleen is the author of numerous books for children, among them Love, Triangle; Penguinaut!; The Bear's Garden; and the Super Happy Party Bears chapter book series. Forever a New Yorker, she now lives in San Diego, California.

Reviews

[Kirsti Call · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is clever, cheerful and easy to read. Filled with likable animal critters who are comically flawed, and a simple, action-filled plot, this book is fun for kids and adults. I read this book in one sitting with my 6 and 8 year olds. Both of them wanted to move on to the next in the series immediately. My 8 year old took the book to bed and re-read it that night. The next day I got requests from her brother for more SUPER HAPPY PARTY BEARS!

His words: "These are awesome. I love them! They are super fun and funny. Everyone should read them!"

[Sarah Monzon · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids thought it was pretty funny.

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can super happy party bears be anything but super fun, funny and cute? This new series is a winner with funny, clever stories about a woods full of grumpy denizens, except for the super happy party bears, who will save the day with their super happy party ways. Kids will love the antics of all the characters and grown ups will chuckle at the witty jokes.

In Volume 1, can the super happy party bears and the grumpy woodland creatures join forces to deal with unwanted beavers who are ruining there river?

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

entertaining and fun! Loved the descriptions of the Grumpy Woods Townscritters and all of the Super happy party bears. The part where they turned the mail that the mayor was trying to return to them into happy mail for them was my favorites. Can't wait to read more of these with H.

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Super Happy Party Bears and the Grumpy Woods residents both go about dealing with the new neighbors who are cutting off the water supply in their own way. The Grumpy Woods residents take the grumpier approach, while the Super Happy Party Bears are just eager for a welcoming party. What's going to solve the water issue?

I was afraid this was going to be too saccharine, but it is delightfully full of irony and witty humor instead. Just my cup of tea. Kids likely won't appreciate all the subtleties put in here for the adults who will read this aloud to kids, but the kids will like the cute animals, the brilliantly colored illustrations, and the crazy antics of the characters. Recommended to readers who want all the colors in their reading, cute animals, and adults who want a little more irony in the lower grade reads they share with kids.

[Kit Feral · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 4 year old says 10 stars.
I say what just happened haha

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cute pictures and not a horrible story, but terrible characters. Nobody in this book cares how anyone else feels, let alone tries to figure out why they might feel that way. Not a good book for teaching empathy.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series (oh yeah, and so do my 4 and 6 year olds) and recommend it to anyone who will listen! There are so many fun characters giggle-worthy situations. Each book follows the same pattern with enough variation to keep us coming back for more.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Super Happy Party Bears love to have parties for anything and everything. Unfortunately, Mayor Quill and the other animals living in the Grumpy Woods prefer not to have parties of any kind. When Mayor Quill receives complimentary letters from the Bears, he huffs out to their house to demand they cut it out, but he only succeeds in leading them to start another party. But things get complicated when a family of beavers moves into the forest and cuts off the river by building a lodge. Mayor Quill and the other grumpy animals seek to chase the beavers out, while the Bears do their best to welcome their new neighbors. The full-color illustrations light up this book matching the light, humorous tone relating to the always happy bears. This is the sort of book that leaves you smiling when you put it down and very possibly even laughing.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can't judge a book by its cover? Case in point: Which age range is this book written for? It looks like a transitional early-chapter book with appealing illustrations on every page, but the vocabulary is very difficult (decree, obliterating, ghastly, quaint, sarcastically, exasperatedly, etc.). I also found myself wondering if there is a trumpian parody here (newcomers not welcome, putting up a wall)? Despite my difficulty with the book, one of my 2nd graders read this one and asked me to buy more in the series. So there, just shows to go ya! Oh, and I have ordered the others in the series.

[Gia Ruiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

so cute. these books are just darling. Great bridges books.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super Happy Party Bears: Gnawing Around, written by Marcie Colleen, is book one of a chapter book series for young readers.

In Super Happy Party Bears: Gnawing Around we are introduced to the Super Happy Party Bears who live in their own Party Patch in Grumpy Woods. They love all their neighbours but the sentiment is not appreciated nor reciprocated. The bears find a way to party for anything at all, but no one else wants to join them. Why? Because everyone else is working at being grumpy.

Mayor Quill (a porcupine) takes it upon himself to settle the situation, which leads to another problem. He goes home to take a bath when it’s discovered the water is gone. I like Marcie Colleen’s use of humour; for example, when his assistant cautiously speaks to the mayor who’s sitting in shallow water in his bathtub, “”… I just wanted to let you know there seems to be a problem with the water. It is missing, sir.” “You don’t say,” responded Mayor Quill.”

It is soon discovered that the water problem was caused by an uninvited beaver family that recently moved into the neighbourhood. The Super Happy Party Bears are excited and want to have a party but no one else is thrilled. One thing leads to another and misunderstandings and funny situations abound.

Super Happy Party Bears: Gnawing Around is nine chapters of fun, laughs, and happiness trying to overcome grumpiness. Steve James has created great illustrations on every page which makes it even more enjoyable for the young reader.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with my 8 year old twins. Here’s what my daughter had to say: “It was okay. The book was about the super happy party bears who were super happy and liked to party. The townscritters did not like the super happy party bears because the bears liked to party and they did not. The townscritters were led by the Mayor who was a porcupine. He was NOT happy. The townscritters’ plan at the end was to get rid of the party by singing badly and by annoying the bears and beavers they would leave. But the bears liked it. However the beavers did NOT like the singing and their house got crushed and it floated down the river.

[Danielle Booey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun easy chapter book series about Super Happy Party Bears and their lives in the Grumpy Woods. The Super Happy Party Bears love everything about life, parties, bubbles, donuts, their grumpy neighbors, and everyone else in the Grumpy Woods just wants peace, quiet, and an end to the Super Happy Party Bears. That is until a new group of beavers roll into town and start stirring up all sorts of new trouble for the town to focus on.

Lots of fun to be found in this series. Silly animal characters and great pictures help to further the engaging storyline.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

SUPER HAPPY PARTY BEARS: GNAWING AROUND is hilarious! These characters, their world and this story are Chapter Book perfection :) As an adult, I was thoroughly entertained by the voice of the book, the characters, the snappy, clever dialogue AND the silly tension. Just wonderful and I can't imagine ANY child being reluctant or not compelled to dive into this and the whole series :D :D :D

[Viviane Elbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The super happy party bears, who love to have loud, dancing, singing parties, live right next to Grumpy Woods neighbors, who do not like noise. But the Grumpy Woods neighbors have a problem - all their water is disappearing. At first, they blame the party bears.

However, the water is disappearing because of beavers. The beavers do not like the super party bears, and they do not like the Grumpy Woods neighbors.

This is a funny, easy to read chapter book with plenty of suspense and twists.

[Dierdre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. Maybe I wasn't in a good enough mood to read this at the time I read it. The illustrations are cute, but nothing really jumped out at me to really like this book. Maybe I'm just too old to get the enjoyment that an eight year old might get reading it. I would possibly still recommend it someone if I thought it might be a good fit.

[Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, kids will rate this book much higher. From an adult perspective, this started out funny and cute and just lost momentum. I also feel stymied on the age for this book. The story and illustrations are appealing to a pretty young audience but some of the humor and vocabulary runs older. Perhaps this is best as a bedtime read aloud.

[Bridget Neace · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly, I thought it was dumb. I think really young/little kids would like it and enjoy it as a read-aloud, but for kids who could actually read this on their independent reading level...I think even they would find it insultingly dumb.

[Jessica Petersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series was instrumental in getting my 7-year-old into reading chapter books on his own. I'd love it just for that, but the books are bright and cheerful and funny enough to have me smiling and laughing along with him when he reads aloud to me.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My eight year old boy who loves funny books laughed so many times reading this book this morning. We are so glad we went ahead and checked out the next one from the library and that there are more of them. It was so cute, funny, and had the best illustrations!

[Holly Claxton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. The art is positively adorable, the story is cute and catchy, and there's just something magical about it. Definitely recommend it to everyone!!

[Nan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Colorful and lots of white space. Will be appealing to K-2, but vocabulary may be hard for the younger ages in that group. At 135 pages, will appeal to those moving into chapter books.

[Gayle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freaking adorable!

[Holly Letson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just could not get into this, so I did not finish it.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ridiculous fun. And makes so much fun of the efficacy of building a wall to keep people you don't like out. Plus the bears' dance moves are catchy!

[Allison Renner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book about happy bears living in the woods, trying to brighten the days of grumpy forest animals.

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t wait to share this fun book with my 3rd graders!

[Renee MA · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blah

[Christine Hwang · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reminded me of the storyline from the movie, Trolls.