The girls are always a little sad about the bear who walks away in the end of We're Going on a Bear Hunt. So Princess Sylvie by Elsa Beskow is a satisfying story of what happens when a bear became friends with a girl. Imagine riding on top of a real bear! Princess Sylvie is a quick read with a simple plot line. There are not any of Beskow's standard fare fairies or elves and the pictures have vibrant colors (some of Elsa Beskow's pictures seem to be all pastel). Most of all, it keeps the attention of even my 18 month baby. I appreciate that it's a book about a father who adores his daughter and is prodded by her to go on a little adventure. I also like how the bear tells the girl that he belongs to the forest. We just watched The Fox and the Child (parent previewing highly recommended as there are several scary parts, especially the end, but still worth it, in my opinion) so we truly do get that message.
We also are enjoying Gerda Muller's Three Bears.* Her version has Goldilocks being the daughter of circus performers who chances upon the bears' cottage after losing her way while picking flowers. When she is discovered by the bears, she runs out of the house. While on the run, she still manages to have several conversations with the bears. She is admonished by the kind bear parents to not come inside strangers' houses without permission and she apologizes to them saying she didn't know any better. My favorite part is when little bear calls out, "Don't you want another bowl of soup?" I love this fresh retelling as well as Gerda Muller's signature illustrations. It seems to bother Cheeky that the middle bowl of soup is not cold, but rather still hot. But in real life, why would the middle-sized bowl be cold while the smallest bowl just right? We also have Paul Gadone's version as well as the one illustrated by F.Rojankovsky which is sadly out of print, but wonderfully illustrated.
I'm going to end with a recent Bear find--Ask Mr. Bear which is about a boy looking for the perfect present for his mother and the bear that finally gives him a good idea. I have to say that I whole-heartedly agree with Mr. Bear.
* I read the translated Korean version. The original is in German. I expect the English translation to be just as good.
(I'm linking to Elise's Children's Book Monday. Please feel free to join us!)
6 comments:
Far as I can tell, Ask Mr. Bear is about a kid named Danny trying to find a present for his mother. Not a bad way for me to go with Mother's Day coming up...?? ;-)
Hee. Though it is a kid book, it is sweet.
I do suspect that if you bought this for your mom, she would want to give this to E. It's the perfect book for that age because there are a lot of animals.
My 4-year-old loves bears. We're Going on a Bear Hunt is a particular favorite. :-) It's funny because he is a timid little guy, but he really loves those big tough bears.
Kristen,
My girls also love We're Going on a Bear Hunt, too! Just a little curious abut the bear's intentions. What if he just wanted to play?
By the way, how did you italicize in your comment? I've always wanted to figure that out.
Like it says below this comment-input box, "You can use some HTML tags, such as <b>, <i>, <a>" -- so surround what text you want to modify with an opening <i>tag and close it with</i> with a slash in it. Works just like HTML for web-page editing by hand. The "a" tag's a bit more complicated with links, but you can look that up online somewhere for future reference.
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