Little Bear - An I Can Read Book

This is a classic and one of the earliest memories of my mom reading to me. This soothing book is perfect for beginning readers.
Classroom Use: Think about the sequence of events and make a numbered chart to see how the story was formed.

This book is one of my first books that helped me learn to read. The book that I currently possess was my grandmother, mother, and now belongs to me. This book allows children the ability to build their own imagination, as well as real life understandings.
This book is about a little bear and many

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different adventures that he has to go through. The first story is about what the sensation of cold is. He second story is about Little Bear's birthday soup. All of his friends bring something for the birthday soup, but he though his mother forgot about him and his birthday. She later brings in a cake and he is happy that she did not forget about his birthday. The third story about little wanting to go to the moon.

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Little Bear's four adventures include taking a trip to the moon and having a birthday party.

An adorable book, dreamy and clever. The stories are simple and rich, with a focus on creativity, mama is always sewing or reading, little bear has only his creativity, and the outdoors. I love the illustrations from the birthday party, and I love the simple gifts the guests bring. Enchanting,

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inspiring. Can inspire a moon trip, birthday soup, or talking about cold.

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This is a good example of modern fantasy because the story would not be possible in real life because it is about a mother bear and her cub and they do human things such as talk and bake and wear clothes. It does hold some truth just in the sense that if these were humans it would be realistic and

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so it can be understood by us; but since they are bears, it is fantasy.
Media: pen and ink, watercolo

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Genre: Modern Fantasy
Age Appropriateness: primary
Media: pen and ink

This book is a good chapter book for early readers. It follows the story of little bear who goes on all kinds of adventures with his imagination. Since he is a bear this makes the story a modern fantasy since bears can’t talk,

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make snowballs, or make soup. It is still a great book for kids and it is easy to fall in love with little bear.

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A set of gentle stories about Little Bear. In this book, Little Bear prepares birthday soup for his friends thinking his mother must have forgotten his birthday. Of course his mother had not forgotten and everyone ends up happy with soup and cake to celebrate. Also in this book Little Bear decides

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to take a trip to the moon in his new space helmet. The relationship between Little Bear and his mother is charming and stories are interesting with simple yet engaging illustrations. The text is easy enough for readers who are just starting out, while the 'chapter book' quality of this book makes them feel quite grown up.

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The main character in this book is a little bear and the book has a few different stories in it about him. A fantasy book that I enjoyed as a child, but isn't very engaging. Media: Black ink and oil crayon

This is a cute, short and simple chapter book about a little bear. It has four chapters in total that I think is a great introduction because although the chapters seem like separate stories they all tie into each other in the last chapter creating a well rounded story.

I love little bear. I remember reading the books with my grandma when I was little and watching the cartoon. I have always loved the story lines. Little Bear was always such an interesting character to me because he encountered tough moral situations but handled in a child's way, but I don't think

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I caught onto it until I was much older.

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Read it to my little nephew and he loved it, now wants the whole set..KIDS!!

This literary work would be an appropriate read aloud book for Kindergarten students. Little Bear is the main literary figure, and students can learn from Litte Bear's adventures. The author uses general vocabulary, and Little Bear's activities would accommodate the reading interests of

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Kindergarten students.

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There are 4 stories included in this book about Little Bear. Little Bear must overcome some obstacles in order to have a fun birthday. He also uses his imagination to take a trip to the moon. The illustrations by Maurice Sendak enhance the story by adding to the text.

Classroom connections: In

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addition to being an easy reading book for beginning readers, this book could also be used to encourage imagination. Little Bear has no TV or video games and yet he finds plenty to keep himself busy.

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The girls only watched Little Bear movies. M had this book for home reading. The girls still play 'go to the moon' with the colander on thier heads.

This is a great book for beginning readers who need a short and comforting story in order to mature in their reading abilities. This would be ideal for younger students as the main character, Little Bear, would be easy for them to relate through as the story follows him through his various

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adventures and events. This can be used to show a basic storyline and students can share times where they may have done something similar to the main character. It can also be used to show how important forming relationships are and what friendships can lead to. The illustrations are simple yet engaging for all ages as well.

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Little Bear is a compilation of stories about a small bear and his adventures with his mother and animal friends. The story is accompanied by intricate illustrations and large text to make for an “easy read” for young readers. I found the stories to be filled with many important lessons of

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having good manners, sharing with others and using one’s imagination to be extremely beneficial to young children. I believe this book would be a wonderful addition to an elementary classroom because of its wholesome stories, simple sentences, and use of repetition.

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This book has 4 short stories about a little bear. In each story kids can follow little bear to a different adventure.
Great book for first graders. Lots of sequence of events, short sentences and repetition.
Reading Journal: count as 1 Beginning/Easy Reader

Else Holmelund Minarik's five Little Bear books, which followed their eponymous ursine hero through some of the adventures of childhood, were one of the staples of my own personal library as a girl, and I recall reading them over and over again, until my copies fell apart. Gentle and reassuring,

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they are also wonderfully and subtly humorous, offering a perfectly realized depiction of a young child's interaction with the people and places in his own small world. Like subsequent installments, this first title contains four stories, each of which gently highlights some reality of child life.

In What Will Little Bear Wear?, our little hero repeatedly brings his sartorial troubles to Mother Bear, confident in her ability to solve the problem, only to learn eventually that he had what he needed all along. Birthday Soup plays with the common childhood fear of having one's birthday forgotten, allowing Little Bear the opportunity to make something for himself, before reassurance (and cake!) are offered. Little Bear Goes to the Moon sees the adorable bear setting off to have an adventure far away, discovering upon his return that playing a stranger is only fun if the strength of love and home are a solid reality, behind the make-believe. And finally, Little Bear's Wish finds the ursine mother and son enjoying the intimacy of bedtime, as Little Bear learns that some wishes are more likely to be granted than others, and that Mother Bear has wishes of her own.

Originally published in 1957, Little Bear was the very first entry in HarperCollins' iconic I Can Read collection, which to this day is considered one of the best beginning reader series available. It was an auspicious beginning, as it perfectly captures the gentle rhythms of childhood exploration and retreat, and of the child's bond with his mother. Rereading it as an adult, I was struck by the often humorous nature of the exchanges between Little Bear and Mother Bear, with their sly back-and-forth dialogue. Text and artwork - the latter supplied by the immensely talented Maurice Sendak, whose Where the Wild Things Are offers another perceptive depiction of childhood reality - make it clear that Mother Bear knows and understands her son's need for both freedom and safety: his desire to explore the outside world and then return to her. The sympathy for the child perspective that is evident here never feels condescending, however, and even though this is a book for younger children, the author respects her audience enough to be honest with them about some of the limitations - not every wish will be granted, for instance - that they will inevitably confront.

Beautifully written and illustrated, Little Bear is more than deserving of its status as a classic of children's literature, and belongs in every young person's library! Highly, highly recommended to all beginning readers.

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The little bear series is cute, comforting and feels like cotton candy--sweet and airless.

I'm not a great fan of this series. I know I'm in the minority and that many adults have fond memories of this series.

The illustrations of Sendak are, as always delightful. These were drawn at an early time in

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his career and the images and softer and darling (not a word that Sendak would appreciate.)

This book is broken into four stories of little bear and his adventures. He looks for something to wear and then realizes that he carries his warmth of fur with him wherever he goes.

Fearful that his family and friends will not remember his birthday, he invites them for soup. Delightfully surprised, he is given a large cake with candles.

In the third story little bear makes a space helmet and tries to go to the moon. Tumbling and falling, he returns to home where he eats lunch and is secure in the love of his mother.

The final story contains lush drawings of the wishes of little bear.

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This book is one of my first books that helped me learn to read. The book that I currently possess was my grandmother, mother, and now belongs to me. This book allows children the ability to build their own imagination, as well as real life understandings.
This book is about a little bear and many

Show More

different adventures that he has to go through. The first story is about what the sensation of cold is. He second story is about Little Bear's birthday soup. All of his friends bring something for the birthday soup, but he though his mother forgot about him and his birthday. She later brings in a cake and he is happy that she did not forget about his birthday.

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Little Bear and his mother are a great team. Little Bear's mother helps him find warm clothes to wear out in the snow, she makes sure to have a hot lunch ready for little bear when he returns from the moon and of course she never forgets his Birthday!

This first Little Bear book was unexpectedly basic-dickandjaney--we are exhorted to "see the snow" THREE times on the first page--and so I dunno if Elsa Holmelund Minarik decided to re-target her series at an older audience with Little Bear's Friend or what, but that story is more engaging and this

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one is very slow (though at least Little Bear doesn't cry at everything like his human alter ego Caillou).

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The four sweet, humorous and thoughtful stories truly deserve their status as a classic of children's literature. Minarik's warm, witty stories pair beautifully with Sendak's charming illustrations and are ideal for beginning readers.

The costumes and art might be old-fashioned, but the charm is timeless.