Favorite cuddly (and not-so cuddly) bear books
Four classic books about bears: two teddy bears, one bear with a strong opinion on his clothes, and a family who goes on a bear hunt.
The books on this list are all classics—you’ve likely heard of them, if not read them before—and I hesitated to share them. But three of the four are being read on repeat in our house right now (“Again! Again!” as my almost two year old demands), so it seemed only right to share in case you need the reminder that these are out there.
“Little Bear’s Trousers” by Jane Hissey
My parents gave me this book (part of the Old Bear series) as a gift when I finished first grade, and I saved it for my little ones. My almost four-year-old boy loves it! One morning, Little Bear wakes up to find his trousers are missing. He goes on an adventure around the house to find them, and it all ends happily with cake.
“Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?” by Nancy White Carlstrom
My almost two-year-old daughter recommends this one for the list. Jesse Bear gets dressed for the day—and night—and has all kinds of fun along the way. My little’s favorite part? When he has “juice from a pear rice in my hair, that’s what I’ll wear at noon.” Sounds about right.
“Corduroy” by Don Freeman
This one also comes to you from my two-year-old. You probably know about Corduroy’s search for his lost button, but it felt necessary to add as we can’t go from one room to another without carrying it along.
“We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” by Michael Rosen
This one is a last-minute addition. We picked it up from the library this week, and both kids are crazy about it! I’ve seen this book on almost every list of recommended children’s books, and it never really stood out to me, but I decided to give it a try. It’s on every list for a reason, right? Right. The littles love it. The repetition, the onomatopoeia, the bear at the end. It has been an enchanting week for us.
Petite Delights:
I recently discovered Read-Aloud Revival, and I have been devouring everything. I love it! This recent podcast episode, “Reading for fun is more important than you think,” is a great listen.
“Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you, no matter what. If you don’t listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little, they won’t tell you the big stuff when they are big. Because to them, all of it has always been big stuff.”
- Catherine M. Wallace
I’ve only ever heard of and read Courtroy Bear! I need to remedy this haha!