  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 10/01/2012 PreS-K—Bear is sleeping soundly when a mischievous wolf comes along and steals his beloved teddy bear from his arms. Crying, Bear chases after him. When Wolf throws the teddy far away, Bear eats him in a single bite and then proceeds to look for his toy. Lion picks it up and then throws it far away as well; Bear eats him, too. When it lands in a nest, a bird picks it up and flies away…so Bear eats Bird's two eggs. And so on until a friendly octopus finds the teddy and delivers it back to Bear. Bear then frees all the animals (including the two now-hatched baby birds) from his stomach. He goes back to sleep with his stuffed friend and all is well. The endpapers further tell the story. Children will relate to this wordless tale of losing a beloved source of comfort; Bear acts out, but the tantrum ends as soon as he is reunited with his teddy bear. Suspense builds as Bear continues to swallow the animals he encounters, but the animals are seen in cross-section inside Bear's stomach, reassuring readers that they are alive and well. The art is lovely; the crosshatch style and color palette are unique and childlike. Dorémus depicts the animals' emotions in gorgeous ways, such as the worry in the eyes of Lion when the eggs start hatching or the spread showing Bear under a rain cloud, mourning the loss of his teddy. This charming book is a winner.—Laura Lutz, Pratt Institute, New York City - Copyright 2012 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Booklist - 12/15/2012 What’s the real lesson here? Don’t ever take a bear’s teddy bear. He is not going to react well. In this wordless picture book, part of the Stories without Words series, a wily fox snatches a sleeping bear’s purple stuffed toy. Fox is oh so cavalier, tossing the teddy in the air—and so Bear eats the fox. Before the bear can grab the woefully discarded plush, a lion comes along and snatches it up, so it’s bye-bye Lion, and he is swallowed whole. And that’s how it goes, as one animal after the next lands inside the bear’s stomach (which kids get to see in humorous cross-sections). Eventually, once a comrade returns the teddy, the bear, who has grown larger and larger with each consumed animal, essentially hacks everyone up from his belly. Dorémus’ crosshatched illustrations express emotion beautifully, and the story is well paced as a series of varyingly sized vignettes on white pages, much like a storyboard. It’s all pretty funny, and kids may relate to Bear’s primal rage. - Copyright 2012 Booklist. Loading...
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