Little Bear

Summary

Little Bear is a book of four short stories about a bear cub and his mother, written for children just learning to read. In "What Will Little Bear Wear?" Little Bear comes in from the snow and tells Mother Bear he is cold. She makes him a hat, then a coat, then snow pants, and each time he runs out to play and comes back cold again. At last he asks for a fur coat too. Mother Bear takes away the hat, the coat and the snow pants, and he sees that he already has one: his own fur. Out he goes, warm and happy. In "Birthday Soup" he cannot find Mother Bear on his birthday and decides she has forgotten. With no cake in the house, he cooks a pot of soup from the vegetables in the kitchen for his friends Hen, Duck and Cat, who knock one after another. Just as the soup is ready, Mother Bear walks in carrying a birthday cake; she had never forgotten. In "Little Bear Goes to the Moon" he puts on a space helmet and announces a trip to the moon. Mother Bear objects that he cannot fly, and he answers that birds do. He jumps from a little tree on a little hill, tumbles down, and decides that he has landed on the moon, which looks much like the earth. He walks into a house just like his own, and Mother Bear plays along with the game until he declares that she is his own mother and asks for his lunch. In "Little Bear's Wish" he lies awake wishing to sit on a cloud and fly all around; Mother Bear tells him he cannot have those wishes, but he can have a story, and she tells him about the things he has really done. Maurice Sendak drew the pictures in fine pen and ink with soft color. Harper & Brothers published the book in 1957 as the first title in its I Can Read series.

Plot or Argument

• What Will Little Bear Wear?

  Cold from the snow, Little Bear asks for something to put on. Mother Bear makes a hat, a coat and snow pants in turn, but he keeps coming back cold. When he asks for a fur coat, she takes the other clothes away and shows him the fur coat he was born with.

• Birthday Soup

  Mother Bear is nowhere to be found on Little Bear's birthday, so he cooks soup for his guests, Hen, Duck and Cat, in a big pot. Just as he is about to serve it, Mother Bear comes home with a birthday cake, having remembered all along.

• Little Bear Goes to the Moon

  Wearing a space helmet, Little Bear sets out to fly to the moon. He jumps from a little tree, lands with a tumble, and pretends the familiar hill and his own house are the moon. Mother Bear joins the game until he ends it and asks for lunch.

• Little Bear's Wish

  At bedtime Little Bear makes one wish after another, starting with a wish to sit on a cloud and fly. Mother Bear says he cannot have them, but offers a story instead, and the story she tells is made of his own adventures.

Characters

• Little Bear, protagonist

  A small, curious bear cub who plays in the snow, cooks for his friends, imagines a moon voyage and makes wishes at bedtime.

• Mother Bear, his mother

  Patient and quietly humorous, she sews his snow clothes, remembers his birthday with a cake, joins his moon game and tells his bedtime story.

• Hen, friend

  One of the three friends who come to Little Bear's birthday.

• Duck, friend

  Another birthday guest who arrives to share the soup.

• Cat, friend

  The third guest at Little Bear's birthday table.

Lessons

• You already have what you need

  Little Bear asks for a hat, a coat and snow pants, and still feels cold. His mother shows him that the warm fur coat he wants was his all along. Children can learn to notice and be thankful for the good gifts they already have before asking for more.

  • What three things did Mother Bear make for Little Bear?
  • Why was Little Bear warm at the end without any of them?
  • What is a good gift you have that you sometimes forget to be thankful for?

• A mother does not forget

  Little Bear thinks Mother Bear has forgotten his birthday, but she was busy getting his cake. Instead of sulking, he makes soup and welcomes his friends. The story shows a child who keeps being kind while he waits, and a mother whose love was there even when he could not see it.

  • Why did Little Bear think his mother had forgotten his birthday?
  • What did Little Bear do for his friends while he waited?
  • How did Little Bear feel when Mother Bear came in with the cake?

• Pretending together

  When Little Bear says he has flown to the moon, Mother Bear does not scold him for being silly. She plays along, and then lets him bring the game home. Imagination is a gift, and a wise parent can enjoy it with a child while keeping him close to what is real.

  • How did Little Bear try to fly to the moon?
  • Why do you think Mother Bear pretended she did not know him?
  • What is your favorite pretend game, and who plays it with you?

• The best story is your own

  Mother Bear cannot give Little Bear a cloud to ride, but she can tell him a story about the things he has really done. The book ends by turning its own adventures into a bedtime tale, which teaches children that their ordinary days, remembered with love, are worth telling.

  • What did Little Bear wish for at bedtime?
  • What did Mother Bear give him instead of his wishes?
  • If someone told a story about your day, what would be in it?

Context

In the mid-1950s American educators and parents were debating how children learn to read, and publishers saw a need for books that a six-year-old could manage alone but that were still real stories rather than drill. Little Bear belongs to that moment: short sentences, a small vocabulary and much repetition, carried by a warm family story instead of a word list. Its world is timeless rather than modern, a bear family in a snug house in the woods, though a space helmet lets a 1950s child dream of the moon.

Composition

Minarik was teaching first grade on Long Island when she began writing simple stories for her daughter and her pupils. She submitted the Little Bear stories to Ursula Nordstrom, the children's book editor at Harper, who chose the manuscript to launch the new I Can Read series and asked the young Maurice Sendak to illustrate it. Harper & Brothers published it in 1957.

Reception

Little Bear became the first of five Minarik-Sendak books: Father Bear Comes Home (1959), Little Bear's Friend (1960), Little Bear's Visit (1961), which was a Caldecott Honor book in 1962, and A Kiss for Little Bear (1968). The I Can Read series it began grew into one of the best known lines of beginning readers. In the 1990s the books were adapted as the animated television series Maurice Sendak's Little Bear, produced by Nelvana, followed by a direct-to-video film in 2001.

Comparisons

• frog-and-toad-are-friends

  Lobel's book is a later I Can Read collection of five short stories in the same plain style; where Little Bear rests on a child's trust in his mother, Frog and Toad rests on the loyalty of two friends.

• make-way-for-ducklings

  Mother Bear and Mrs. Mallard are calm, watchful mothers; both books give the youngest readers a picture of secure family love, one in a cozy house in the woods and the other in the streets of Boston.

• the-tale-of-peter-rabbit

  Another small animal child with a mother at home; Peter disobeys and must escape Mr. McGregor's garden, while Little Bear's adventures, even his flight to the moon, end safely at his mother's table.

• winnie-the-pooh

  Both books turn a child's games and pretending into short episodes in a woodland world, and both end by folding the stories back into the life of the child who hears them.

• little-house-in-the-big-woods

  Wilder's first book also follows a small child through the seasons in a snug family home in the woods, with snow, birthdays and bedtime stories at its heart.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The clothes Mother Bear makes in the first story. Count them, and see what happens to each one at the end.
• The friends who come to Little Bear's door in Birthday Soup. Who comes first, second and third?
• The little hill and the little tree in the moon story. Look at the pictures to see if the moon really looks like the earth.
• The last story. Listen for the earlier adventures that come back in Mother Bear's bedtime story.

Key terms and names

Snow pants

Warm pants for playing in the snow. They are the third thing Mother Bear makes for Little Bear.

Fur coat

A coat made of fur. Little Bear asks for one, and Mother Bear shows him he is already wearing his own.

Birthday Soup

The soup Little Bear cooks in a big pot for his friends when he thinks there will be no birthday cake.

Space helmet

A round hat that space travelers wear. Little Bear puts one on before he tries to fly to the moon.

Wish

Something you hope for. Little Bear makes wishes at bedtime, and Mother Bear gives him a story instead.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension What did Little Bear ask for each time he came in from the snow?
2. Comprehension Who came to Little Bear's birthday, and what did he make for them?
3. Comprehension Where did Little Bear land when he jumped from the little tree?
4. Interpretation Mother Bear knew Little Bear had a fur coat all along. Why do you think she made him a hat, a coat and snow pants first?
5. Interpretation Little Bear thought his mother forgot his birthday. Was he right? How did he act while he thought so?
6. Interpretation Why did Mother Bear pretend she did not know the bear who came home from the moon?
7. Big Question Mother Bear said no to Little Bear's wishes but gave him a story. Is a story about your own life a good gift? Why?

Faith Connections

• Isaiah 49:15 (Scripture)

  God says that a mother may forget her child, yet He will not forget His people. Little Bear fears his mother has forgotten his birthday, and the cake shows she had remembered all along, a small picture of the Lord's faithful remembering.

• Matthew 6:28-30 (Scripture)

  Jesus tells us not to worry about clothing, because God clothes even the grass of the field. Little Bear piles on hat, coat and snow pants, but the warm coat he needed had been given to him already.

• Psalm 8:3-4 (Scripture)

  David looks at the moon and stars and wonders that God cares for man. Little Bear longs to fly to the moon, and the story brings him home to the place where he is known and loved.

• Isaiah 66:13 (Scripture)

  God promises to comfort His people as a mother comforts her child. Mother Bear comforts Little Bear at the end of each story, with warmth, a cake, lunch, and a bedtime tale.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Little Bear wants many things: more clothes, a cake, a trip to the moon, a ride on a cloud. Each time, the thing he really needs turns out to be close at home: his own fur, his mother's remembering, his own house, his own story. So a child who is loved already has more than he knows to ask for.

Rhetorical device: repetition. In the first story Little Bear goes out, comes back cold and asks again three times, and each time Mother Bear makes one more thing; the pattern lets a new reader guess what comes next and enjoy the surprise when the fur coat breaks it.

Debate: Resolved: Mother Bear was right to play along with Little Bear's moon game instead of telling him at once that he was only at home.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Write about how Mother Bear shows love to Little Bear. Tell about two of the four stories.

Comparison with Make Way for Ducklings: Mother Bear and Mrs. Mallard are both good mothers. Tell one thing each mother does for her little ones, and say how they are alike.

Medical Lens

No medical content. The only bodily concern is a cub feeling cold in the snow, which is solved by his own fur, and a tumble down a little hill that does him no harm.

Creative Prompts

• Classroom

  Make Birthday Soup as a class: each child names one vegetable to add to the pot, the way Little Bear filled his soup for Hen, Duck and Cat, and then draws a picture of the friend they would invite.

• Fiction

  Tell what Little Bear saw on his trip to the moon, if the little tree on the little hill had really sent him flying up past the birds.

• Dialogue

  Act out the moon game: one child is Little Bear coming home in his space helmet, and another is Mother Bear pretending she has never seen this bear before.

• Classroom

  At the end of the school day, ask each child for one thing they really did today, and put the answers together into a short bedtime story the way Mother Bear did in Little Bear's Wish.

Further Reading

• Father Bear Comes Home, Else Holmelund Minarik

  The second Little Bear book (1959), with Father Bear home from the sea.

• Little Bear's Friend, Else Holmelund Minarik

  Little Bear meets a girl named Emily and her doll Lucy (1960).

• Little Bear's Visit, Else Holmelund Minarik

  A visit to Grandmother and Grandfather Bear; a 1962 Caldecott Honor book.

• A Kiss for Little Bear, Else Holmelund Minarik

  The fifth and last Minarik-Sendak Little Bear book (1968).