Bear Has a Story to Tell
Author: Philip C. Stead
Illustrator: Erin E. Stead
Publisher: Roaring Book Press
Year of Publication: 2012
Genre: Fiction
Horn Book or Kirkus Reviews rating: Horn (2)
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Summary: In this story, the main character is Bear and before winter comes, he tries to tell his friends a story but his friends are too busy preparing for the winter and don't have enough time to listen to him. When the winter comes to an end and spring approaches, Bear meets up with his friends again but he now forgot his story! Then the story ended with the same sentence as the beginning of the book.
Summary of Professional Reviews: The Horn Book Review gave this book a rating of 2. The professional review talked about how great the author started and ended the book with the same sentence ("It was almost winter and Bear was getting sleepy"). They also pointed out the great features in the characters that are presented in this book. "This perfectly cyclical, quietly entrancing book features scenes of sleepy, soft-edged creatures floating on imagination-freeing white" (The Horn Book Guide Online).
Review by Ranim Sankari: This is a great book to use to stretch a child's imagination. Considering that the author never actually stated Bear's story, this can give children an opportunity to use their imagination by coming up with one. Another great literary merit in this book is the uniqueness of how the author started and ended the book with the same sentence. The meaning behind this story is to probably get children thinking outside the box and think of an ending themselves. The illustrations in the book are very carefully chosen. The pictures help children see exactly what season the animals are in.
This book would be useful when teaching…
Illustrator: Erin E. Stead
Publisher: Roaring Book Press
Year of Publication: 2012
Genre: Fiction
Horn Book or Kirkus Reviews rating: Horn (2)
* * * * * * * *
Summary: In this story, the main character is Bear and before winter comes, he tries to tell his friends a story but his friends are too busy preparing for the winter and don't have enough time to listen to him. When the winter comes to an end and spring approaches, Bear meets up with his friends again but he now forgot his story! Then the story ended with the same sentence as the beginning of the book.
Summary of Professional Reviews: The Horn Book Review gave this book a rating of 2. The professional review talked about how great the author started and ended the book with the same sentence ("It was almost winter and Bear was getting sleepy"). They also pointed out the great features in the characters that are presented in this book. "This perfectly cyclical, quietly entrancing book features scenes of sleepy, soft-edged creatures floating on imagination-freeing white" (The Horn Book Guide Online).
Review by Ranim Sankari: This is a great book to use to stretch a child's imagination. Considering that the author never actually stated Bear's story, this can give children an opportunity to use their imagination by coming up with one. Another great literary merit in this book is the uniqueness of how the author started and ended the book with the same sentence. The meaning behind this story is to probably get children thinking outside the box and think of an ending themselves. The illustrations in the book are very carefully chosen. The pictures help children see exactly what season the animals are in.
This book would be useful when teaching…
- This book could be used for a writing lesson. The teacher could read this book before a writing lesson and the teacher could assign students into groups and have them write what they think Bear's story could possibly be.
- Another way this book can be used when teaching is when the teacher is introducing a lesson about the weather and the seasons changing. The teacher can read the book as an introduction to a lesson and after doing so, he/she can have the students focus on the illustrations in the story because they are a great way for learning in a visual way.