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calistareads's review against another edition
4.0
I had not heard of these and my Sister-in-law said she loves them as a kid. She got this one from the library and I read it at breakfast this morning to check it out.
This book is sweet and a lot of fun. Bear has a big imagination and can come up with all kinds of things. They are such grand things that everyone around him starts believing them too. I love the octopus. A great book for children who can start to read on their own.
Also, Maurice Sendak who did Where the Wild things are illustrated this book. They are warm and alive with love. It reminds me a little of Beatrix Potter.
A great starter book. I think I want to read all these. You turn around and Boom, a great story falls in your lap and life is amazing.
This book is sweet and a lot of fun. Bear has a big imagination and can come up with all kinds of things. They are such grand things that everyone around him starts believing them too. I love the octopus. A great book for children who can start to read on their own.
Also, Maurice Sendak who did Where the Wild things are illustrated this book. They are warm and alive with love. It reminds me a little of Beatrix Potter.
A great starter book. I think I want to read all these. You turn around and Boom, a great story falls in your lap and life is amazing.
absentminded_reader's review against another edition
4.0
This book has been in my collection for over twenty years and I do not believe I have ever opened it! The pages were crisp and uncrinkled, the binding tight. Clearly my daughters hadn't discovered it. One reason could be that we assumed this story was included in [b:Little Bear Treasury: Little Bear/ Little Bear's Friend/ Little Bear's Visit|18871|Little Bear Treasury Little Bear/ Little Bear's Friend/ Little Bear's Visit|Else Holmelund Minarik|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387740642s/18871.jpg|20224]. However, that edition only contains three of the Little Bear books. [b:Father Bear Comes Home|174088|Father Bear Comes Home|Else Holmelund Minarik|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1380492303s/174088.jpg|1035578] was one of the excluded books. It was also the second in the series.
The art is wonderful. Sendak's pen & ink work give the story an old fashioned feel, but his characters' modern expressions give the story a timeless quality for me. My favorite is the look of surprise on Little Bear's face when he startles the mermaid. With this book we were given more concrete details about the time period that Little Bear lives in. Although scenes here and there gave the work a turn of the 19th century/early 20th century feel, the story "Little Bear's Mermaid" placed the work closer to the Victorian era, perhaps only a decade or two before where I had originally thought. I have heard it said that these stories are old fashioned, but that would have been true when they were published as well. Parasols and straw hats would be just as out of place among cars with fins as they are compared to today's fashions.
The color palette is again limited. This time White (the paper), black, brown & blue are used. There weren't any illustrations that mingled the brown & blue, but the spot colors were still based on masks made from his watercolors. (See the father's pants on page 36 for a clear example of brush strokes.)
The stories by [a:Else Holmelund Minarik|8722|Else Holmelund Minarik|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1201020692p2/8722.jpg] are rich with imagination and whimsey, yet they feel more like a slice of life compared to the first book. Those stories had endings that felt like books within a book as opposed to this one where they felt more like chapters of a larger tale. I felt the ministories worked better in book 1 as opposed to this one. They were stronger on their own. This didn't detract from my enjoyment, however. "Father Bear Comes Home" and "Little Bear's Mermaid" were the favorites here as we read the book the other day. Minarik is a clever writer. Coupled with Sendak's illustrations, [b:Father Bear Comes Home|174088|Father Bear Comes Home|Else Holmelund Minarik|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1380492303s/174088.jpg|1035578] deserves its place in my library.
The art is wonderful. Sendak's pen & ink work give the story an old fashioned feel, but his characters' modern expressions give the story a timeless quality for me. My favorite is the look of surprise on Little Bear's face when he startles the mermaid. With this book we were given more concrete details about the time period that Little Bear lives in. Although scenes here and there gave the work a turn of the 19th century/early 20th century feel, the story "Little Bear's Mermaid" placed the work closer to the Victorian era, perhaps only a decade or two before where I had originally thought. I have heard it said that these stories are old fashioned, but that would have been true when they were published as well. Parasols and straw hats would be just as out of place among cars with fins as they are compared to today's fashions.
The color palette is again limited. This time White (the paper), black, brown & blue are used. There weren't any illustrations that mingled the brown & blue, but the spot colors were still based on masks made from his watercolors. (See the father's pants on page 36 for a clear example of brush strokes.)
The stories by [a:Else Holmelund Minarik|8722|Else Holmelund Minarik|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1201020692p2/8722.jpg] are rich with imagination and whimsey, yet they feel more like a slice of life compared to the first book. Those stories had endings that felt like books within a book as opposed to this one where they felt more like chapters of a larger tale. I felt the ministories worked better in book 1 as opposed to this one. They were stronger on their own. This didn't detract from my enjoyment, however. "Father Bear Comes Home" and "Little Bear's Mermaid" were the favorites here as we read the book the other day. Minarik is a clever writer. Coupled with Sendak's illustrations, [b:Father Bear Comes Home|174088|Father Bear Comes Home|Else Holmelund Minarik|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1380492303s/174088.jpg|1035578] deserves its place in my library.
laurenpressley's review against another edition
4.0
We checked this book out from the library because Daddy's been traveling a lot lately, so it seemed like the story would be a nice fit. It also seemed similar in length, style, and structure to Frog and Toad and Uncle Elephant. It was another winner for Leif. I'll be looking for more in this series.
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