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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