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Friday, March 20, 2015

Perfect PB Friday: Two Bear Books

Happy Spring! I'm ready to say goodbye to winter and so are the bears in these two perfect picture books. Enjoy the rhythm.

Title: One Dark Night
by Lisa Wheeler,  Harcourt Books
Themes: dark, sharing, friends
The story begins -
In a wee little house,
In a wee little hole,
Lived a wee little mouse
And a wee little mole. 
The scene shifts to a "big giant lair" where a "big giant bear" is getting hungry and grumpy. 
He growled beasty growls.
He stomped beasty feet.
Climax -
Mouse perked his ears. Heard SNARL-SNUFF-A-SNUFF.
"SOMEthing is coming!" And that SOMETHING sounds tough!
It's bear. 
He's unhappy that mouse and mole are late for their feast.

Title: Bear Says Thanks
by Karma Wilson, S&S Books
Themes: sharing, thankful, friends
The story begins -
All alone in his cave,
Bear listens to the wind.
He is bored, bored, bored . . .
and he misses his friends.
In the next spread, bear comes up with a plan.
"I could make a big dinner!
A feast I could share."
But he looks through his cupboard,
and the cupboard is bare.
Climax -
Bear’s friends come to his cave with food. Thanks!
Bear mutters and he stutters and he wears a big frown.
Bear sighs and he moans and he plops himself down.
Bear feels bad that he has no food to share. But his friends ask Bear to share his stories.
I love how both picture books show friends sharing food and stories.
With word play and rhyme, both stories feature a big brown bear. 
And both illustrators painted emotionally driven pictures which draw the reader in.
Resource
Lisa Wheeler created an Activity Guide for One Dark Night

Visit Susanna Leonard Hill's blog for a complete list of today's Perfect Picture Books.

14 comments:

  1. Two great choices. I love Karma Wilson and have not read the book you reviewed. Wheeler's book sounds like a fun read too. Bear books are hits with my grandchildren.

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    1. Until ReFoReMo, I didn't realize how many bear books have been published.

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  2. I love these bear books. My son loved them when he was just a wee little mouse. Now, he's almost as big as bear, or at least he thinks he is. Love the rhyme and the illustrations. These are some of my all time faves.

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    1. I liked studying them together. They are perfect PB!

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  3. They both sound like great read-alouds!

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  4. Two terrific choices. These authors are excellent rhyming writers.

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  5. Beautiful illustrations and rhyming on both stories. Great choice for PPBF.

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  6. Great choices... and soon the bears will be wandering about looking for a little smackerel of something in my neck of the woods.

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    1. Close enough to take pictures! I would love to see your sneaky bears.

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  7. These books sound so cute. I love rhyming stories and the illustrations in these two books are beautiful.

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