Bipolar Bear and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Health Insurance: A Fable for Grownups

by Kathleen Founds, Kathleen Founds (Artist)

Overview

Theodore is a bear with wild mood swings. When he is up, he carves epic poetry into tree trunks. When he is down, he paints sad faces on rocks and turtle shells. In search of prescription medications that will bring stability to his life, Theodore finds a job with health insurance benefits. He gets the meds, but when he can’t pay the psychiatrist’s bill, he becomes lost in the Labyrinth of Health Insurance Claims.

 

This witty and colorful tale follows the comical exploits of Theodore, a lovable and relatable bear, as he copes with bipolar disorder, navigates the inequities of capitalist society, founds a commune, and becomes an activist, all the while accompanied by a memorable cast of characters—fat-cat insurance CEOs, a wrongfully convicted snake, raccoons with tommy guns, and an unemployed old dog who cannot learn new tricks.

 

Entertaining, whimsical, and bitingly satirical, Bipolar Bear is a fable for grownups that manages the delicate balance of addressing society’s ills while simultaneously presenting a hopeful vision for the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781637790359
Publisher:	Graphic Mundi - Psu Press
Publication date:	11/01/2022
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	16 - 18 Years

About the Author

Kathleen Founds is the author of the prize-winning When Mystical Creatures Attack! Her work has appeared in the New Yorker online, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Good Housekeeping, The Sun, The Rumpus, The Hairpin, Buzzfeed, and Salon, among other publications. She teaches fiction writing at Cabrillo College and philosophy of nonviolence at Cal State Monterey Bay. Her website is www.kathleenfounds.com.

Editorial Reviews

11/14/2022

A bear faces the baffling complexities of health insurance in Founds’s wacky but pointed debut. Theodore, a bear, lives in the forest. Tired of his wild mood swings, he follows the advice of a chachalaca to get medicine from town. After a long journey, a pharmacist lists all he needs to gather before he can issue meds: a prescription, a doctor, insurance, and money. Theodore gets a job in a grocery store, but he has to wait a year for insurance. His relief at eventually getting pills quickly sours when a massive bill follows, which leads him into the labyrinth of health insurance claims (“To file a new claim, cross the jungle of man-eating plants to your left”) and a brawl with the literal fat cats who run the insurance company, under the direction of mangy Baroness Von Stinkleshanks. A dejected, defeated Theodore returns home and is arrested when he cannot pay an old fine for digging through the dumpsters to survive. During an exuberant manic state, Theodore concocts a scheme with fellow inmates to escape, which brings about strange new alliances and a slightly hopeful future. The art is simplistic with mostly full-page panels, and is bright with what looks like colored pencil or crayon, reminiscent of a storybook. Indeed, the style makes the point that the state of America’s healthcare is so absurd it should be a story to frighten children. It’s zany with a zinger of a political message. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"Bipolar Bear and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Health Insurance is, I promise, unlike any book you've ever read - like all of Kathleen Founds's work, it is full of delight and sorrow, of lightness and profundity, of silliness and deep intelligence, often all on the same page. I so admired the brilliant and capacious imagination on display in these pages." - Vauhini Vara, author of The Immortal King Rao

"Kathleen Founds is one of my favorite young writer-artists in America, and Bipolar Bear-by turns hilarious and heart-breaking-is her finest work yet. I loved this book." - Gideon Lewis-Kraus, author of A Sense of Direction

“[A] richly illustrated, darkly funny fable for adults about the country’s dysfunctional health system.”

—Rachel Scheier, Kaiser Health News

"Theodore is an adorable everyman who falls into the dreaded vortex of insurance claims-no creature this cute should have to suffer what millions of Americans go through right when they need help the most. In one crafty panel after another, Founds wittily eviscerates this mess with tenderness for its hapless victims and merciless venom for the profiteers. Bipolar Bear is biting satire and call for action presented in some of the most captivating illustrations I've ever seen." - Elizabeth McKenzie, author of The Portable Veblen and Stop That Girl!

"A satire with heart." - Vanessa Diffenbauh, author of The Language of Flowers

"This delightful, effortless read keeps us happily afloat over some serious and deeply consequential terrain. Plus wonderful pictures!" - Karen Joy Fowler, Man Booker Finalist and author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

From the Publisher