“Maybe a Bear Ate It!” by Robie H.
Harris, illus. by Michael Emberley (Orchard Books, 9780439929615, $15.99, 40
pages, ages 2 to 6)
This simply worded new picture book shows the calamity that can result when
a young child can’t locate a favorite book. Robie Harris spins a sweetly
funny read-aloud story for preschool and kindergarten-age kids, and Michael
Emberley provides energetic illustrations of all the imaginary bears,
dinosaurs, elephants, rhinos, and sharks blamed for hiding the missing book.
The main character of this story is an adorable little cat-like kid dressed
in his striped footy pajamas (complete with two little striped caps atop his
pointed cat ears). Sitting in bed surrounded by his stuffed bear, dinosaur,
shark, and other plush animals, he’s engrossed in reading his favorite book,
until he lets out a yawn so big that it knocks his book off his bed and out
of sight. The little cat kid is frantic:
“It’s gone!”
“It’s nowhere!”
“I can’t find it anywhere!”
“Maybe a BEAR ate it!”
“Maybe a STEGOSAURUS stepped on it!”
“Maybe a SHARK swallowed it!”
Caught up in all these wild imaginings, the little cat-kid can’t go to sleep
without his favorite book, so he sets off to look for it, checking
everywhere: in the kitchen sink, in the clothes dryer, in the grape jelly
jar, inside all the cooking pots and pans—even inside his sock drawer! When
he finally checks under his bed, he discovers:
“Hey look! I found my book!”
“You know what? I LOVE my book!”
And so the little cat-kid settles down into bed once again to read his book
amid all his rumpled-up toy animals… and then he promptly falls asleep.
“Maybe a Bear Ate It!” is perfect for story time, bedtime, or library time,
and it’s a great book to introduce young readers to the importance of books!
For preschoolers and kindergarteners ages 2 to 6.
Review by
Mark
David Bradshaw, March
19, 2008
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