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A Christmas for Bear

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Bear's understated Christmas celebration has Mouse feeling a bit anxious in this humorous and heart-warming story featuring the unlikely, loveable pair.
Features an audio read-along! Get ready for Christmas and the best kind of surprises as grumpy Bear and eager Mouse, of the Bear and Mouse series, return in a funny tale full of festive cheer and friendship. One frosty night, Bear hears a tap, tap, tapping on his front door. "Merry Christmas!" cries Mouse, who has arrived for a Christmas party. Bear has never had one before, but he's certain that pickles are essential, along with the reading of a long and difficult poem. The problem is, whenever Bear comes back from the kitchen with treats, Mouse has vanished – only to be found, small and grey and guilty-eyed, scurrying under the bed or searching the closet. Will there be a present for Mouse? Even just a tiny one?

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  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 4, 2017
      Bear is hosting his first-ever Christmas party in this addition to the Bear and Mouse series, but while he believes that “Christmas pickles” are the most important element of a successful party, Mouse is preoccupied with presents for some reason. Tension builds as Mouse keeps darting off, trying to find the gift he believes must be hidden somewhere in Bear’s house, testing his friend’s patience. Both text and art will draw smiles as this awkward holiday gathering unfolds, and especially as Bear’s frosty temperament begins to thaw. And, yes, presents—not just pickles—are eventually exchanged. Ages 5–9. Author’s agent: Edward Necarsulmer IV, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary.

    • School Library Journal

      October 1, 2017

      PreS-Gr 1-Becker and Denton team up once again for a holiday episode that sweetly acknowledges how the friendship between Bear and Mouse has grown from their first meeting in A Visitor for Bear and the multiple titles since then. The watercolor, ink, and gouache illustrations remain consistent, as does Bear's and Mouse's routines. Bear, committed to propriety and insistent that Christmas be all about poetry and pickles, is repeatedly foiled by the "small and gray and bright-eyed" Mouse and his ability to disappear from a room, this time to look for presents. He is as effervescent as ever and only subdued when Bear seems unlikely to waver from his oratory plans. However, Bear, doubling down on his curmudgeonly ways with comically pointed and increasingly louder hints to Mouse, makes the Christmas magic reveal even more of a surprise. VERDICT The warm and playful use of the familiar story structure and characters make for a read-aloud that will add smiles to the holiday.-Joanna Fabicon, Los Angeles Public Library

      Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Kirkus

      Starred review from September 1, 2017
      In their sixth adventure together, best friends Bear and Mouse celebrate Christmas with pickles, a poem, and presents. Bear invites Mouse to their first-ever Christmas party, although Bear knows only what he's read about how Christmas is celebrated. He announces that eating pickles and "reading a long and difficult poem" ("A Visit from St. Nicholas") should be enough for their party, but Mouse is most interested in the possibility of presents. Grumpy Bear pretends to reject the notion: "Monstrous assumption!" Ever hopeful, Mouse repeatedly escapes from Bear to search the house for gifts, finally locating his Christmas stocking with a tiny telescope tucked inside. Taking the telescope outside to view the night sky leads to a search for Bear's present, a huge sled that Mouse has somehow hidden under a snow-covered tree. In a satisfying conclusion, Bear and Mouse gleefully sled down a hill "under the shining stars of Christmas." Bear's curmudgeonly personality and Mouse's cheerful antics provide droll humor conveyed with polished comedic pacing and clever phrases such as "a mournful bite of pickle." Soft-focus illustrations in watercolor, ink, and gouache are particularly strong in the subtle expressions on the animal faces as well as in meeting the design challenge of including a huge bear and a tiny mouse in one environment. Another appealing adventure for this delightful duo, just right for a Christmas Eve storytime, perhaps enjoyed with a plate of pickles. (Picture book. 3-7)

      COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • The Horn Book

      January 1, 2018
      Although he's decked the halls, Bear is bah-humbug on presents. Mouse brightly persists; Bear stubbornly resists; and so it goes until Bear begins reciting "A Visit from St. Nicholas." The stockings are hung by the chimney with care--proof that the Scrooge routine is (mostly) an act. This odd couple's banter is evergreen in their sixth book. Cozy illustrations are full of good cheer.

      (Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

    • The Horn Book

      November 1, 2017
      Although he's decked the halls for his first proper Christmas, Bear (A Visitor for Bear, rev. 2/08; and sequels) is bah-humbug on presents. Incredulous, Mouse hunts for hidden loot, but Bear is immovable: Christmas means a long and difficult poem, gingerbread bears, and, oddly, pickles. Mouse brightly persists; Bear stubbornly resists; and so it goes until Bear begins reciting A Visit from St. Nicholas, emphasis on the stockings. The stockings are indeed hung by the chimney with care--proof that the Scrooge routine is (mostly) an act. This odd couple's banter is evergreen in their sixth book. Cozy illustrations are full of good cheer. kitty Flynn

      (Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Formats

  • OverDrive Read

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • ATOS Level:2.6
  • Lexile® Measure:560
  • Interest Level:K-3(LG)
  • Text Difficulty:0-1

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