Tag Little Bear

Little Bear / Little Dragon

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Little Bear
Little Dragon
Sarah Cordingley and Kamala Nair
Oxford Children’s Books


If you’re a parent or carer who is having trouble getting a young child off to sleep then these, the first two in a series of calming Sleep Stories intended to help young children prepare for a good night’s sleep, are worth trying


In the first we join a restless Little Bear as he sallies forth from Old Slumber Tree in search of the perfect sleeping place. During his meanderings he discovers several possible spots: there’s the reedy banks of Hush-a-bye-River, on the edge of Snoozy Shore, the sand dunes of Moonlit Meadow for instance but in each place there’s something preventing the bear from falling fast asleep. Eventually he comes to Rockabye Treehouse wherein resides a wise owl. Owl’s question proves just the right thing to send the wandering Little Bear to the place most suitable for a cosy night of slumbers.


One night in the Misty Mountains way up high Little Dragon is also beset by wakefulness. His friend Bedtime Bird accompanies him off on a search for the perfect sleep-inducing hug. First stop is the Lullaby Trees but the tree trunks can’t provide a ‘squeeze hug’ so the dragon continues alone along the woodland path to Starlight Hollow and thence to Rainbow Falls where he encounters some bubble blowing music making frogs. Could one of their bubbles transport Little Dragon to slumberland?


Calming and reassuringly written, with a wealth of descriptive language by Sarah Cordingley and illustrated in luminescent hues by Kamala Nair, these gentle stories are just right for the very young.
Both are preceded by a yoga breathing exercise and some tips for adult sharers and end with a mindfulness activity. (There’s also a QR code to scan for an audio version of the story, mindfulness exercises, a soundscape and a lullaby.)

Little Bear

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Little Bear
Richard Jones
Simon & Schuster

One day, a Monday to be precise, a little boy discovers a polar bear in his garden – a very tiny one. So small is the bear that he can sit in the boy’s hands. The boy speaks to the bear and realising he must be lost wants to help him. Over the next few days two things grow – the polar bear and the friendship between bear and boy and by Wednesday, it’s time for the two to set sail.

They embark on a journey that takes until Sunday when the bear is reunited with his family. After a day playing with the polar bears, the boy knows he must say goodbye to his special friend and sail back home. This he does, safe in the knowledge that the bear’s love will stay with him.

With the caring boy narrating the story, and Richard’s wonderfully gentle portrayal of the events and the growing loving bond between bear and boy, we truly feel as though we’re with them throughout. It’s this care and concern that lies at the heart of the story: “Are you lost, little bear. Can I help you?” comes the boy’s first question; then on Thursday we read ‘he had grown too big for my hat … So he curled up tightly, safe and warm in my bag.’ while on Saturday we see this:

Comforting and reassuring, this is heart-winner of a book that lingers in the mind and is open to several interpretations depending on what readers/listeners bring to the story.

The Bear and the Piano & Little Bear

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The Bear and the Piano
David Litchfield
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
There are some amazing picture book debuts this season: here’s one from David Litchfield that absolutely oozes style and panache.
A young bear cub discovers something unexpected in the forest one day and it’s something that, once he gets his paws on it, draws him back again and again and again for days,

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weeks, months and years as his plinking and plonking slowly becomes beautiful music with a power to transport him to magical places far away from his arboreal home.
Now a large grizzly, his musical prowess attracts other bears and then, some talent spotting humans. Thus, he leaves home and heads for the bright city lights of Manhattan …

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and stardom …

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What price fame and fortune though without your friends? Time to head for home thinks the bear and back he goes bursting with tales of life as a celebrity. But all he finds when he reaches the forest clearing is …

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Surely it can’t all have been for nothing, can it?
Executed with remarkable finesse, a fine virtuoso performance all round. It has all the qualities of a classic in the making.

Here’s one that’s already established itself as such:

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Little Bear
Else Holmelund Minarik and Maurice Sendak
Red Fox pbk
Many moons ago in an edition of Learning to Read with Picture Books I featured this book in its previous I Can Read incarnation. It was the first of my key ‘Taking Off’ titles and I said of it, ‘a classic whose literary quality is indisputable.’
With four short stories in which Little Bear discovers the value of his own fur coat, makes birthday soup, visits the moon, and makes some wishes, together with its wonderfully warm illustrations by Maurice Sendak, this remains a book that all young children should encounter on their journey as readers. It’s great to see this Red Fox publication of a very special book.

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