A Kiss for Little Bear

by Else Holmelund Minarik

Other authorsMaurice Sendak (Illustrator)
Hardcover, 1998

Status

Available

Local notes

R Min--c.2 Hardcover

Barcode

2950

Publication

HarperCollins (1998), 32 pages. (Mar 2018). Hardcover. $14.95.

Description

Little Bear's thank-you kiss from grandmother gets passed on to him by many animals and greatly aids the skunks' romance.

Subjects

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1968

Physical description

32 p.; 5.63 inches

User reviews

LibraryThing member jessy555
Genre: Fantasy
Critique of Genre: This is a terrible example of fantasy because it ultimately has no point to it. Little Bear’s grandma sent a kiss to him through the hen for sending her a picture. The hen passed it along and it kept getting passed from one creature to another until two skunks
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started just sharing Little Bear’s kiss back and forth. Then the story takes a sudden turn and the skunks are getting married and Little Brea is the best man.
Media: pen and ink/watercolo
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LibraryThing member mickmyster13
I remember reading these books when I was young. Once I was a better reader I took one of the little bear books to my babysitters and couldn't wait to read it to her. These are great books for begining readers and humerous too, the animals do quite funny things.
LibraryThing member mmsharp
I used to love this book! Reading it again brought back some good memories of my mother kissing me all the time. The Bears grandma sends him a kiss, which goes from a frog to a cat, to a skunk, and finally a chicken gives the little bear his kiss.
LibraryThing member HeatherSwinford
The little bear's grandmother sends him a kiss via lots of animals as a thank you for a picture. The book is a fun read for early readers.
LibraryThing member hnebeker
I loved the little bear books. They were some of the first books I learned to read on my own. I had the entire series and my favorite has always been the story where little bear makes a special hat and goes to the moon. The illustrations are just as wonderful as the stories themselves.
LibraryThing member Melanie1
Little Bear sends Grandmother a picture, and she likes it so much she asks Hen to take him a thank-you kiss. But Hen passes the kiss to Frog, who passes it to Cat, and on and on -- will Little Bear ever get his kiss?
LibraryThing member marqjl01
I have the 1968 version and it is very old. I have always loved Maurice Sendak and his books and was surprised to see that he is the illustrator of this book and of all the little bear books.
LibraryThing member lquilter
Sweet pass-it-along story about animals passing a kiss along from family members to friends. Heterosexual wedding involved.
LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26
First published in 1968, this fifth and final early reader devoted to the childhood adventures of Little Bear opens as its eponymous ursine hero is painting a picture - one depicting a monster who looks quite a bit like one of the Wild Things from illustrator Maurice Sendak's own classic
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picture-book, Where the Wild Things Are - for his grandmother. Giving the painting into the keeping of his friend Hen, Little Bear asks her to take it to Grandmother Bear, which she faithfully does, receiving a kiss for Little Bear in return. Slightly less faithful in this second delivery, Hen gives the kiss to Frog, who in turn gives it to Cat, setting off a chain that eventually leads back to: Little Bear!

Unlike the four previous books in this series - Little Bear, Father Bear Comes Home, Little Bear's Friend, and Little Bear's Visit - which each contained four brief stories or chapters, A Kiss for Little Bear contains one single story. It is a sweet tale, highlighting the love between grandson and grandmother, and concluding with an amusing wedding that is brought about by the passing of Little Bear's kiss. Sendak's artwork here is top-notch, with many little expressive details. I loved some of the facial expressions, from Hen's much-put-upon disgruntlement at being made a messenger, to Skunk's outraged visage when confronted with Little Bear kissing his bride! All in all, another lovely Little Bear book, one I would recommend to all beginning readers, as well as to fans of Maurice Sendak's work.
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LibraryThing member areyno5
A Kiss for Little Bear
“A Kiss for Little Bear” by Elsie Holmelund Minarik is another classic. The writing is engaging and well organized. The story begins by Little Bear drawing a picture and wanting to send it to his Grandmother. As a thank you for the picture, Grandmother wants to send a kiss
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back to Little Bear. The plot is organized with the book being sequenced with the kiss being passed from hen, to frog, to cat, to skunk, back to hen and finally arrives to Little Bear. Although the text on each page is simple, the illustrations enrich the detail of the story. For example, “She was very pretty. He gave the kiss to her. And she gave it back” is the text when the skunks receive Little Bear’s kiss; however, the pictures are earth tones and Maurice Sendak (the illustrator) provides great expressions on the characters faces and includes great details that evoke feelings. Ironically, the picture that Little Bear drew in the very beginning of the book is a monster. The monster resembles the monsters in “Where the Wild Things Are”, young readers may or may not notice this. It would be a great opportunity to explain that both books have the same illustrator! On the following page when Hen comes back and says “too much kissing” Hen’s face looks very frustrated! The big idea is to tell of the travels of Little Bear’s kiss!
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LibraryThing member jdhaynes
This story is very simple but it is very cute. Little bear send a kiss to his grandma but the kiss loses its way.
LibraryThing member lhanso1
I enjoyed this book because of the pattern and organization of the langugae. The book is sequencial and includes patterned language for the majority of the book until the end of story. In the story Little Bear's Grandmother asks the Hen to deliever Little Bear a kiss. The Hen continues to ask
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another animal to deliever the kiss to Little Bear, and the pattern of asking a different animal to deliever the kiss continues. This consistent pattern facilitates early readers ability to read the book, because they may catch on to the pattern and understand the only new words in the story will be the different animals introduced. The different animals mentioned in the story have different attributes and mannerisms, teaching children different characteristics of animals. I believe the main message of this story is to trust in your friends and divide big tasks amongst a group of people, just as Hen did when he was asked to deliever the kiss to Little Bear.
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LibraryThing member adaq
Sweet pass-it-along story about animals passing a kiss along from family members to friends. Heterosexual wedding involved.

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Pages

32

Rating

(166 ratings; 4.1)
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