Bear has a story to tell

The title says it all, but as luck would have it, Mouse, Duck, Frog, and Mole are all too busy preparing for the approaching winter to listen to Bear's tale. He decides the story can wait and helps his woodland friends with their preparations, before settling in for a long winter's nap. Come springtime, Bear gathers the gang and waits until just the right moment to begin his story if only he could remember what it was! Not to worry, his friends have real-life suggestions that bring the narrative satisfyingly full circle. The creators of the Caldecott-winning A Sick Day for Amos McGee (2010) offer another charming story about the reciprocal nature of friendship, this time set against the backdrop of the changing seasons and showing how different animals cope with wintry weather. Despite the chilly subject matter, Stead's illustrations have a cozy, quiet feel that is enlivened by Bear's expressive countenance, which has just the right touch of adorable pudge. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A follow-up to a Caldecott winner is always cause for much curiosity and excitement, and this will be no exception.--McKulski, Kristen Copyright 2010 Booklist

Big, furry bears abound in children's books, but Erin Stead's is especially soulful. It might be the way his eyebrows furrow with concern, or the way he leans forward to hear what his friends are saying. Bear wants to tell a story, but his friends Mouse, Duck, Frog, and Mole are busy preparing for winter. (Mole is already asleep, in a den so deep the book has to be turned sideways to view it.) Instead, Bear offers help to his friends. Helpfulness in picture books can teach a moral lesson or it can let readers imagine luxuriating in that tender care themselves. This collaboration, which follows the Steads' Caldecott-winning A Sick Day for Amos McGee, is of the second sort. Bear raises a great paw to check the wind for Duck and tucks Frog tenderly into his hole. When winter passes, the animals are reunited, but Bear has forgotten his story; now it's his friends' turn to help him. The quiet suggestion that no one has all the answers is just one of the many pleasures the Steads give readers. Ages 2-6. Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Literary Management. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

PreS-Gr 2-Bear is feeling sleepy, but before he hibernates, he wants to tell his friends a story. Mouse, Duck, Frog, and Mole are all too busy preparing for winter to listen. So, Bear good-naturedly helps his friends with their preparations before going to sleep himself. Several months later, Bear rolls out of his cave. He's excited that spring has arrived and he can now tell his story. Bear gathers all his friends around, but then realizes he has forgotten what his story was about. His friends give helpful suggestions until Bear comes up with a new story to share. Both the CD and the DVD include delicate background music that complement this gentle tale. Narrator Mike Birbiglia voices sound effects, such as stretches and yawns, and uses a different voice for each character. In a bonus track on the CD, Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator Erin E. Stead explains where the idea for Philip C. Stead's picture book (Roaring Brook, 2012) came from. She also talks about her decision to create the illustrations using pencil and ground up chalk pastels mixed with water. In an interview on the DVD, Stead demonstrates how to draw and paint Bear. Both formats are expertly produced, and their tone matches and honors this tender story of woodland friendship.-Anne Bozievich, Friendship Elementary School, Glen Rock, PA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

What good is a story without listeners? Bear wants to share one before he hibernates, but his friends are too busy preparing for winter -- Mouse collecting seeds, Duck heading south, while Mole is already asleep. So, gentle and uncomplaining, Bear helps them as he can, then sleeps too. Come spring he tries again, warming up his audience with thoughtful gifts like an acorn for Mouse and a spot of sunshine for Frog. But now Bear has forgotten his story! No worries: with some prompting from the others (Duck: "Maybe your story is about the busy time just before winter"), Bear begins with a reprise of the books first line: "It was almost winter and Bear was getting sleepy." Bears patient acceptance of his friends ineluctable needs (and the reciprocity that finally engenders the story that proves to be this one) make for a perfectly cyclical read-it-again bedtime book. Erin Steads scenes of sleepy, soft-edged creatures floating on imagination-freeing white among a few bare trunks and drifting autumnal leaves are nicely counterpointed by gentle night skies and touches of soft spring green. Quietly entrancing. joanna rudge long (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Within a gentle tale of hibernation and renewal, the Steads' second collaboration (after Caldecott-winning A Sick Day for Amos McGee) explores a second, internal theme: the nature of the storytelling narrative itself. Increasingly sleepy, Bear pads through the fall landscape with "a story to tell" before winter's sleep. Mouse, Duck, Frog and Mole are well into their own winter preparations and cannot listen. Months later, when the reunited friends gather beneath a full moon, Bear can't remember his story. Helpfully, his friends suggest a protagonist ("Maybe your story is about a bear"), a plot ("Maybe your story is about the busy time just before winter"), and supporting characters (themselves). Thus, Bear begins his story as this one ends: The first line of his story is both the last line of the book and its first. Erin Stead's pictures quietly appeal: Pencil line and shading define basic features of animals and trees, while washes and smudges of paint suggest seasonal colors, Bear's rotund mass, and the brushy cobalt expanse of starlit skies. Sharing an affinity with Jerry Pinkney yet evoking the sparer 1960s work of Evaline Ness and Nonny Hogrogian, Stead's compositions exude an ineffable, less-is-more charm. The Steads' work adopts a folkloric approach to cooperative relationships; the affectionately rendered animals that stand in for humans convey a nurturing respect for child readers. (Picture book. 3-7)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The title says it all, but as luck would have it, Mouse, Duck, Frog, and Mole are all too busy preparing for the approaching winter to listen to Bear's tale. He decides the story can wait and helps his woodland friends with their preparations, before settling in for a long winter's nap. Come springtime, Bear gathers the gang and waits until just the right moment to begin his story—if only he could remember what it was! Not to worry, his friends have real-life suggestions that bring the narrative satisfyingly full circle. The creators of the Caldecott-winning A Sick Day for Amos McGee (2010) offer another charming story about the reciprocal nature of friendship, this time set against the backdrop of the changing seasons and showing how different animals cope with wintry weather. Despite the chilly subject matter, Stead's illustrations have a cozy, quiet feel that is enlivened by Bear's expressive countenance, which has just the right touch of adorable pudge. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A follow-up to a Caldecott winner is always cause for much curiosity and excitement, and this will be no exception. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.

Big, furry bears abound in children's books, but Erin Stead's is especially soulful. It might be the way his eyebrows furrow with concern, or the way he leans forward to hear what his friends are saying. Bear wants to tell a story, but his friends Mouse, Duck, Frog, and Mole are busy preparing for winter. (Mole is already asleep, in a den so deep the book has to be turned sideways to view it.) Instead, Bear offers help to his friends. Helpfulness in picture books can teach a moral lesson or it can let readers imagine luxuriating in that tender care themselves. This collaboration, which follows the Steads' Caldecott-winning A Sick Day for Amos McGee, is of the second sort. Bear raises a great paw to check the wind for Duck and tucks Frog tenderly into his hole. When winter passes, the animals are reunited, but Bear has forgotten his story; now it's his friends' turn to help him. The quiet suggestion that no one has all the answers is just one of the many pleasures the Steads give readers. Ages 2–6. Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Literary Management. (Sept.)

K-Gr 2—Before hunkering down to hibernate, Bear wants to share a story with his friends, but Mouse, Duck, Frog, and Mole are too busy with their own winter preparations to listen. Months later, Bear wakes up and is eager to reunite with his pals and finally tell his tale. He "clear[s] his throat," "puff[s] out his chest," and then, much to his chagrin, forgets what he wants to say. His friends offer prompts that jog his memory: "Maybe your story is about a bear," "Maybe your story is about the busy time just before winter," "there should be other characters too." In lovely circular fashion, the ending has Bear sitting on a log beginning his story that readers will remember as the first sentence of the book. Erin Stead's exquisite pencil and watercolor illustrations capture the beauty of the changing landscape with falling leaves, first snowflakes, and starry evenings. Bear's nurturing acts of kindness are also conveyed, from raising a paw to check the wind direction as Duck flies away to gently tucking Frog under a warm blanket of leaves and pine needles. The rhythms of nature and of storytelling are in fine form here.—Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada