28. Little Bear

Title: Little Bear
Author: Else Holmelund Minarik
Illustrator: Maurice Sendak
Publisher: Harper & Row
Copyright Date: 1957
Number of Pages: 63
Reading Level: 5+
Genre: I Can Read/Classics

Summary
There are four separate stories in this little book. In the first Little Bear is cold and needs Mother Bear to make him some clothes. So Mother Bear made him a hat, but he was still cold. She made him a coat, but Little Bear was still shivering. Next she made him some snow pants, but Little Bear couldn’t get warm. Mother Bear asked if Little Bear would like a nice fur coat? Little Bear did want a fur coat so she took off his hat, coat and snow pants. Little Bear wasn’t cold anymore. In the next tale it is Little Bear’s birthday and Mother Bear is nowhere to be found. He decides to make Birthday Soup for all of his friends. Hen, Goose, and Cat come and Little Bear asks if they would like to stay for some Birthday Soup. Mother Bear comes home and she brings with her a beautiful big birthday cake just for Little Bear. Mother Bear reassures Little Bear that she could never forget his birthday and never will. Next in Little Bear Goes to the Moon, Little Bear decides because he has a new space helmet he is going to the moon. Mother Bear tells him that he cannot go to the moon, he doesn’t have wings, birds can’t fly to the moon anyway and he is a little fat bear cub. Little Bear leaves determined. He day dreams about his travel to the moon, he comes to a house and wonders what kind of bears live on the moon. Little Bear sees the lunch and moon Mother Bear says her Little Bear has traveled to Earth so he might as well eat his lunch. Little Bear tells Mother Bear to quit teasing and asks if he can eat his lunch. She says yes and that she knew he was her Little Bear. The last tale is Little Bear in bed telling his mother things he wishes for. Mother Bear tells him he can’t have those things. Finally Little Bear asks for a story and he wants it to be about him. Mother Bear recounts the past three tales. When she finishes she tells him he can now go to sleep and to sleep well.

Recommendation
I want to recommend this to mothers to read to their young children at bedtime. There are a lot of opportunities for a mother to tell her child that she knows, loves and cares about her child in this book.

Problems/Conflict
It might bother some kids that Little Bear doesn’t have a name like them. Another conflict is in the third tale Mother Bear tells Little Bear that he is a little fat bear cup that can’t fly and can’t go to the moon. Some might say that she is crushing his dreams but sometimes what kids need is a little reality to bring them back from the moon. The fourth tale does the same thing because Little Bear is wishing for things that he cannot ever have and Mother Bear tells him so.

My Reaction
The pictures are so classically lovely. Mother Bear is dressed in a long dress and looks warm and inviting. I just love the relationship between her and Little Bear in this book. There is a soft playfulness about the book as a whole. The words and the pictures interact as a whole. I know my mom read this to me when I was little but I honestly didn’t remember any of it while I was reading. My name is also written into the front from when I was first learning to write which is kind of silly.