“Danny Malooley was four years old when he learned the hard way that lemon-scented soap tasted nothing like lemons and everything like soap.”

From James Gould-Bourn’s Bear Necessity.

After losing his wife, Liz, in a car accident, Danny has been lost; however, trying to connect with his son, Will, since the accident has been the biggest challenge of his life.  Will hasn’t spoken a word since he survived the accident that killed his mother.  Since Danny’s late on rent, their terrible landlord drops by to threaten Danny and give him one last chance to pay, but later that day, Danny’s fired from his construction job for being late again.  Unable to find a job anywhere doing anything else, Danny decides to earn money with the only thing he can think of: street performer.  Danny gets a gross, discounted panda costume, and decides his act will be dancing because it’s the thing he’s least terrible at.  Danny keeps his new job secret from Will while trying to make enough money performing in the park to cover rent.  Totally terrible at dancing, Danny begs Krystal, a nightclub pole-dancer, to show him the basics, but time is quickly running for Danny’s to pay the landlord without being physically injured.  One day, when Danny sees Will being chased through the park by bullies, the panda-clad father scares the other boys away, which results in Will unknowingly saying “thank you” to his father.  As Will continues to come back to the park to talk to the panda, Danny is torn between keeping his identity secret to connect with his son and trying to reach him without a mask.

Readers will find this story to be sweet, funny, and completely endearing.  Gould-Bourn manages to write in a manner that quickly makes the main characters engaging and realistic.  A captivating book from start to finish, Bear Necessity is a book that is not to be missed!