Daniel Manus Pinkwater

Irving and Muktuk, polar bears at the zoo in Bayone, New Jersey, are the natural suspects when someone steals a shipment of imported muffins, but they decide to prove that they are not bad bears by finding the real thief.

The bear's hat is gone, and he wants it back. Patiently and politely, he asks the animals he comes across, one by one, whether they have seen it. Each animal says no, some more elaborately than others. But just as the bear begins to despond, a deer comes by and asks a simple question that sparks the bear's memory and renews his search with a vengeance. Told completely in dialogue, this delicious take on the classic repetitive tale plays out in sly...