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CM Magazine: Little Bear.

________________ CM . . . . Volume XXIV Number 28. . . .March 23, 2018

Little Bear.

Elaine Sharfe. Illustrated by Karen Sim.
Regina, SK: YNWP, 2017.
32 pp., pbk., $9.95.
ISBN 978-1-988783-08-6.

Preschool-grade 1 / Ages 3-6.

Review by Ellen Heaney.

** /4

Little Bear is, well, little. But he longs to hurry the day when he will be Big Bear. One thing he desperately wants to do is to be able to roar with the best. Discouraged about how long the process is taking, Little Bear accosts a variety of animals and tries instead to become like them. But he finds he cannot fly like an owl or swim like a fish, and he is much too bulky to squeeze into Rabbit’s burrow.

He repeats these words at each encounter:

"I don’t want to be Little Bear. I want to be Big Bear, but that won't happen for a long time. I can’t wait."

The time comes for hibernation,

"Little Bear, Little Bear. It's time for our winter sleep," [said the mother bear].

Little Bear started to yawn. "I'm so tired," he said as he crawled into his cave and snuggled close to his mother. He was asleep in a minute.

      When he awakes, it is spring, and he can really roar now, a skill which he is proud to demonstrate to all the other creatures. Finally he is Big Bear.

      A small prairie publisher has given us this familiar sequential tale of a young animal's wish to be different. It is supported by deep-toned digital art which is variously charming and awkward in execution.

      There is not much new in Little Bear, and most libraries could probably either take it or leave it.

Recommended with Reservations.

Ellen Heaney is a retired children’s librarian living in Coquitlam, BC.

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