I used to follow Scott's Molly and the Bear comic strip, but it lost a lot of humor and charm as a long-form graphic novel. Much of the book is spent on Molly's trying to hide Bear from her parents. I didn't find this part cute or funny. There's a decent lesson on how to handle bullies near the end of the book which adults and educators will appreciate. Maybe kids will enjoy this one more than I, but on the whole I found it pretty tedious.

As a fellow lover of bears, this was a cute premise! A scaredy-bear befriends a little girl and they become fast friends - convincing the parents to let him stay in the house and then convincing the principal to let him come to school. Classic simple animation style, which I liked.

Happy publication day to this AWESOME graphic novel! I think that my middle grade patrons will love this one and think it is hilarious. I cannot wait to add it to the library's circulation!

simple but amusing. a scaredy bear begged to live in Molly’s house. Molly agreed but she decided to keep the bear from her parents, at first. but soon they became best friend, and bear even went to school with Molly.

this radiated pure innocence and joy. some scenes even made me giggle. i enjoyed it.

The illustrations were cute, but I found the story lacking somewhat. It was hard to get into, and some of the conflict/solutions didn't quite match in my opinion.

Cute graphic novel for younger readers. Molly and Bear was an unexpected read with the very strange premise that my 5th grade class didn't quite get the point of. Conflicts seemed forced and resolved strangely. I can see kids liking it, but based on the classroom's reaction, I don't think it's a 5th grade book.

Molly & the Bear is a cute graphic novel about a terrified bear and the girl he befriends. While this is adorable and does deal with fear and anxiety on the part of bear, it lacks the depth that I love in many middle grade graphic novels. Students may still love it though.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing for the eARC!