Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Baby Bear’s Big Dreams
Illustrator: Melissa Sweet
Picture Book
For ages 3 to 5
Harcourt, 2007 ISBN: 978-0152052911
Baby Bear has lots of dreams about what he is going to do when he is big. After all being a baby bear there are lots of things that he is not allowed to do as yet and he, naturally, looks forward to the days when he will be able to do all kinds of big bear things. For now Baby Bear likes to imagine what it will be like in a year, or two, or five.
For example “in about a year” he imagines that his best friends will all move in to his house and that they will have the best of times playing together. Of course they will never have to pick up their toys and they will be able to stay up late as much as they like. In “a year or three” Baby Bear will build a tree house where his friends will come for tea and stay for weeks at a time. When he has grown “a year or five” he will take some honey from a hive and with his gift in tow, he will visit some bears that he knows. Together they will sample the honey, play games, and do all the things that he is sure “big bears always do.”
One thing Baby Bear is sure of is that when he is “ALL grown” he will still come home where his family will still give him hugs, they will still tuck him into bed, and they will still give him kisses before he goes to sleep.
Little children who dream about what life will be like when they are “all grown up” will have a deep appreciation for Baby Bear and his dreams. Here is someone whom they can definitely relate to, and not only that but his dreams are so much like their own. Who hasn’t dreamed of living in a tree house, and who hasn’t looked forward to that glorious day when one can stay up later than eight o’clock.
