Old Bear

Kevin Henkes
Greenwillow (2008)
ISBN 9780061552052
Reviewed by Cayden (age 4) and Max (age 2) Aures and Mom for Reader Views (8/08)


“Old Bear” is the story of a bear hibernating in the winter and dreaming that he is a cub again.  He dreams of sleeping in a giant crocus, clouds raining blueberries, and all of the leaves being butterflies. 

Max:  “Bear sleeping.”
Cayden:  “He is hibernating because it is winter and that is what bears do when it snows.”

Max:  “Sleep in flower!”
Cayden:  “That is a real big flower if it can hold that bear!”

Cayden:  “Why is the sun made out of that flower?  And look at all of those butterflies!”

Max:  “Blueberries!”
Cayden:  “I would like it if it rained blueberries!  We like blueberries a lot!”

Cayden:  “Why is everything yellow, brown and orange?  I wouldn’t like it if that was how everything looked.”

Max:  “Stars!”
Cayden:  “They are all different colors in the sky!”

Cayden: “He woke up now and winter is done.”

Cayden:  “My favorite part was when it rained blueberries!”
Max:  “Me too!”

Parent’s comments:

“Old Bear” by Kevin Henkes is a creative book that encourages children to think outside of the box.  My boys had a great time imagining a world where all of the leaves were butterflies, and where it rained blueberries!  The illustrations in the book did an excellent job to complement the storyline and we really had a fun time being a part of “Old Bear’s” dream sequence!

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