Is it ok to review a book about snow when it was 100 degree outside today?
That’s a rhetorical question.
We have had this book, Snow Bear, forever. Or at the very least since Nick was Madeline’s age.
Which is pretty much the same as forever.
An adorable story about a small bear that ventures off to explore the area on the first day of Spring. Eager to see the world after a long, cold Winter, he didn’t heed his Mama’s warning about staying close enough so she could see him. Along his journey, he meets various animals who all help him on his adventure. Soon he’s wandered far enough away from his Mama that he can’t quite find his way back.
As this is a soft-to-touch book, there are flocked spots on the animals throughout the book for your children to touch. The pictures are softly colored and beautifully illustrated, and the length of the book makes it the perfect story to read at bedtime. It’s a sweet story with, spoiler alert!, a happy ending and one that Madeline reaches for time and time again.
A few critics that didn’t care for it panned it because the bear looks so sweet and happy in the story, yet he’s lost. I don’t know about you, but I’m not planning on having my daughter get upset and freak out because the bear is panicked. I’d rather she see that he kept his cool and because he did (mostly because of naivete), it all worked out in the end. The book was also tagged for not having enough depth. Given the intended audience is 3-5 years old, while I definitely don’t want a book dumbed down for my children, it also needs to be a concept that they can easily grasp given their age.
Definitely perfect for the intended age group, and a nice addition to our collection.
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