Brown Bears, Big Bears, Beautiful Bears

Bears are my favorite non-domestic animals.  Now, I love elephants and penguins, but bears are my #1 favorite.  I moved to the northern Virginia area not long after the birth of the National Zoo’s young male panda, Tai Shan, and quickly fell in love as I learned more about these fascinating and rare animals.  When the adorable Knut the polar bear became a media sensation, I became an admirer of those majestic and also critically endangered bears. 

The 100th day naming of the San Diego giant panda cub inspired me to retool and present my bear storytime (genetic testing has linked giant pandas to bears and are classified as such, although the red pandas are not in the Ursidae family).

Although it only features a bear on its first page, I had to include Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? A “sequel” of sorts to Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, this title features endangered animals “living wild and free” such as the black panther, spider monkey, and the bald eagle.  I also could have chosen Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?, featuring animals found in zoos (and their noises), or Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?, featuring animals native to North America.

Big Smelly Bear is a recent addition to our collection; not having used it in a previous storytime, I was unsure as to how my group would react. They loved it! The star of the story is indeed big, smelly, and a bear.  He’s also a bear with a major issue: a ferocious itch!  No matter how hard he tries, the itch won’t go away.  Along comes Big Fluffy Bear, who naturally suggests that he bathe himself.  Insisting that he doesn’t need a bath, BSB and BFB get into a yelling match (major opportunity for hamming it up). Finally, BSB discovers that baths aren’t so bad after all, and even sneaks away at times to bathe.  Although this book contains more dialogue than most books I choose for storytime, it’s a fun choice for toddlers, who are notorious for balking at baths.

I couldn’t do a storytime without one of the most famous bear stories for the toddler and preschool crowd: Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  Although there are many wonderfully told and illustrated editions of this story, I usually choose Byron Barton’s The Three Bears for a toddler storytime (I would chose another edition for a preschool storytime, or I would tell the story to the group).  The prose is simple and direct without boring the reader or the audience.

For a preschool group, I would include Dinner at the Panda Palace.  Mr. Panda runs the hottest restaurant in town, gathering from the constant stream of diners.  One by one, they arrive in groups (this is a counting book): three pigs running from a wolf, five swinging monkeys, eight impeccably dressed penguins, and so on, all the way to ten chickens.  Suddenly, one more patron arrives…a small mouse.  Can Mr. Panda find room for one more diner?  Wittily told in rhyme, this is a fun read aloud for preschoolers.

I haven’t yet used You’re a Bear in a storytime (this week’s toddler group was younger than normal), I look forward to introducing children and parents to this lovely celebration of imagination.  We see a young girl covered with a brown blanket and pretending to be a bear, from bathing, to stomping, spinning and tumbling, and finally sleeping.  This would be a fine bedtime book as well. 

Need fingerplays? You’re in luck.  There’s “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn Around,” of course.  Here’s a cute one I found from the Child Care Lounge site:

Five little bears
Five little bears little bears were dancing on the floor
One fell down and that left four
Four little bears climbed up a tree
One found a bee hive that left three
Three little bears were wondering what to do
One chased a bunny rabbit that left two
Two little bears were looking for some fun
One took a swim that left one
One little bear sitting all alone
He looked all around and then ran home.

thebestkidsbooksite.com also has several good fingerplays.

What are your favorite books about bears? Do you know of a good nonfiction book about bears that could be shared with preschoolers? We have excellent books about bears in our collection, but they are suitable for older children.

Books Mentioned:

Barton, Byron.  The Three Bears.  New York: HarperCollins, 1991. 

Calmenson, Stephanie.  Dinner at the Panda Palace.  New York: HarperCollins, 1991.

Jukes, Mavis.  You’re a Bear.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003.

Martin, Bill.  Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?  New York: H. Holt, 2003.

Teckentrup, Britta.  Big Smelly Bear.  New York: Sterling, 2007.