Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Don't Wake Up the Bear!
Illustrator: Patricia Wittman
Board book
For ages 3 to 5
Marshall Cavendish, 2008 ISBN: 978-0761453048
It is a cold winter evening and snow is falling. A bear is lying fast asleep in his cave and he looks so soft and warm that a hare who is “thumping by,” and who is feeling very cold indeed, decides to curl up in the cave next to the bear. A little while later, a badger looks in the cave and he wishes that he too could “snuggle up with that big, soft, warm bear.” The hare invites the badger to come in but he cautions him to be very careful not to wake up the bear.
Other animals are drawn to the cozy cave with its big warm bear, and each new arrival is told, in a whisper, to come in but “don’t wake the bear.” Carefully the animals snuggle around the big sleeping bear, being as quiet as possible. Then a little mouse, whose tail is very cold, creeps into the cave, and soon after something dreadful happens.
Children are going to thoroughly enjoy this wonderful wintery book. They may even start to wish that they too could cuddle up next to a warm soft bear. Best of all, they are going to laugh when they read the very last page and find out that the bear has a little secret of his own.
