Julia goes to the forest and has lots of talking animal friends like the Scotty the Squirrel, Frieda the skunk and Abigail the groundhog. Each have something they do with her like climb a tree, play hide and seek or have farting contests. One day Julia gets the idea she wants to hug a bear. So she puts out honey and that does not work. Then she puts out blueberries and honey. She takes a nap while reading under her favorite tree and while sleeping her book goes missing. She notices blueberry footprints and with the help of her friends she finds a tree with a house at the top. At the top in the house is a bear with lots of books. It goes on a little more from there. The characters in this book are charming and Julia is a very determined young lady she is going to meet a bear. This book is on my high recommend list for any child.

Such a sweet story about a girl looking for a bear! It had great illustrations and a captivating, easy to follow plot line. Very cute!

Julia is very popular when it comes to forest friends. Scotty the squirrel loves to climb trees with her, Abigail the groundhog plays hide-in-seek with her, and she has farting contests with Freida the skunk. ( Kids will love that component I'm sure). There is one animal that Julia is longing to meet and that is a bear. She imagines the fun of getting a big old bear hug from a real live bear! Sounds like heaven.

Julia loves books and loves to read. One day while immersed in a book about bears she decides to bring a pot of honey into the woods to see if she can entice one to try a little sweet snack. Unfortunately that doesn't work but Scotty the squirrel loves it. The next day she leaves a basket of blueberries in plain sight hoping to lure one in. There that should do the trick she surmises.

On her return from lunch she discovers big, blue paw prints and that her book is gone! Oh my! Adventurous Julia follows the paw-print trail and what she discovers not only fulfills her dreams but leads her to wonderful friend who loves books just as much as she does. She "bearly" can contain her happiness as her kindred spirit wraps her in a hug.

The illustrations are full of action, detail, fun and happiness. I love a book where the overall theme is the wonder and joy of "reading books." I highly recommend this book.

This is a short and sweet children's picture book about a young girl and her love of nature, animals, and books. The story/text in this book is very simple and easy for young children to understand. The book's detailed imagery and bright colors are also sure to attract the attention of young children. I personally found the illustrations in this book more appealing than the writing.

I liked that books are important to the plot of this story. I enjoyed the main character and the bear, as well as their respectful interactions. I think Children will enjoy the story. I'm not sure the majority of elementary classroom teachers will want to read aloud about the farting contests mentioned in the book. I've taught enough to know those pages where farts are mentioned would cause chaos during a read aloud!

Bears, books and fart jokes! This brightly colored picture book should please many 5 and 6 year-olds.

This is a cute story about a little girl named Julia that wants to meet a bear. She has lots of woodland friends that she talks to about her desire to hug a bear. Julia loves to read and she was reading a book about bears and learned lot of things to help her find one, such as they love honey and blueberries. Both of those things failed to bring a bear to her. Then she found a treehouse and inside was a bear sleeping surrounded by books. Julia has found her bear! You will need to read the story to find out how that meeting went. The only thing that might be disagreeable to some of the parents is that the book talks about farting contest. That could raise some eyebrows with some parents. The illustrations were so cute and the concept of the story was very sweet.

I love this picture book. The illustrations are just glorious.

When I read a book to my students I like for them to predict. So before reading, I’d ask them how would YOU catch a bear who loves to read, record the responses and revisit after reading.

I loved the vocabulary: absorbed in a book, Plunged back into the story, and Fortunate acquaintance this has been... I would nor stop to elaborate the terms as I read, but would go back after reading and say, what does absorbed mean and let them figure it out from the context.

The end with hugs is priceless.

What I really didn’t like was the use of the word fart. I felt there would have been a better term for children. But that’s one opinion. I wouldn’t throw out the baby with the bath water.

All in all, this is a really good book and the illustrations are completely engaging, especially the bear’s house in the tree. I’d like to find that house on VRBO. Smile

Oh my, do I love “How to Catch a Bear Who Loves to Read.” It tells the tale of spirited Julia, who has many friends in the forest near her home ... Scotty the squirrel with whom she climbs trees, Abigail the groundhog who plays hide-and-seek with her — and even Frieda the skunk, with whom she has farting contests! 😀

But inspired by a book, she decides to bring honey to the woods to attract a bear, one she dreams of meeting and playing with and hugging. Don’t we all? 🐻❤️

But she learns that bears are not just drawn by sweet smells in this warm story about an adventurous little girl with a big heart who loves reading and bearnormous hugs! 5/5

Pub Date 06 Nov 2018

Thanks to Chouette Publishing and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are fully mine.

#HowToCatchAbearWhoLovesToRead #NetGalley

Bored with more typical animals, Julia wants to meet a bear. Having read it a book—not Winnie the Pooh—to get it to show up, she sets out some honey. It doesn’t help, but she keeps trying.
Why would anyone have a farting contest with a skunk? Not only are you bound to lose, but. . . does she have a nose?
I guess in a world where animals talk, a treehouse that big isn’t so unrealistic. Getting a bear up there, though. . .
The artwork feels strange. It’s not trying to be realistic, and that’s fine, but somehow the little girl’s face is too pronounced. But the colors are bright and enticing.

I read this with my youngest and she loved the pictures, story, and the idea that there's a bear who loves to read. It was a fun read overall, though I could have done without the flatulence jokes along the way.

A young girl Julia has animal friends throughout the forest where she lives, but none of the is a bear.
Julia decides she wants a bear as friend and sets out to get herself one.

In between farting contests with her skunk friend and reading books about bears Julia finds new tracks in the woods. After identifying the tracks as those of a bear and with the help of her friends, fueled by youthful curiosity Julia follows the tracks. Julia follows those bear tracks over the river and through the woods, up a tree and into a bear's house! A bear, his house and his books, Julia finds a bear friend that loves reading as much as she does and they bond over this shared passion

A short and sweet story about new friendship.

The pictures in the book were amazing but I thought the story was a little off for a children’s story. I would recommend reading the story with a little editing and the kids will love the pictures.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this book for so many reasons.
The pictures are lovely and a really memorable thing for me is the smiley faces, all through the faces are happy, this gives a really happy jolly vibe from the start.
Reading this book was like a happy adventure!
The text was really descriptive and the language used perfect for children.

Farting contest!!!! this had me in stitches
"Sorry, Frieda, i can't fart right now. i'm looking for someone!"
This is a wonderful book that is great to read to kids of a wide age range.
Definately one i will be buying and enjoying reading over and over.
If i could give more than 5 stars i would!

Perfectly pleasant, this looks at a young girl that ends up sharing her book with a bear, when she had thought the best way to tempt him into friendship was with food. Yes it inspires people to share books and think of them as communal things for many to enjoy and talk about, but I can't see this one being swapped too regularly. Three and a half stars.

Pretty illustrations and a nice premise, but shortly after I begin the story, I can't unsee "fart" humor at work -- and it's completely unnecessary for this book. I don't think I graded this story any less for it, if I did, I'd make this 1.5 stars. I just didn't see the point in adding it in to what could've been a more whimsical and lovely story. My own daughter cracked this e-book from NetGalley and was jarred right away with it.

The pictures are bright and colorful, but the story is rather blah, and odd.

First of all, you don't want to leave food out for animals, especially not for bears, as they will tear car doors off to get it. Second bears are not toys.

But, let us accept that all the animals talk, and are friendly, and I shouldn't read to much into this.

I think what the author is trying to say is that the little girl is looking for a friend to read books with. And I suppose this is a way to tell the story of finding a reading buddy, but it doesn't work for me.


<img src="http://www.reyes-sinclair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Screen-Shot-2018-08-05-at-9.26.01-PM.png" alt="how to catch a bear" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-830" />

I look at the little girl going to the bears house, to read with him, and I don't think, oh, Goldilocks or Oh, Winnine the Pooh, but rather, adult man with child. But, that is the mother in me.

<img src="http://www.reyes-sinclair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Screen-Shot-2018-08-05-at-9.27.08-PM.png" alt="how to catch a bear" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-829" />

Hard to recommend this, as I didn't especially like the story, or where it went. I find it odd that the child is hiding this friend from her mother. But, as I said, the colors of the illustrations are bright, and cheerful, and perhaps some child will relate to this story.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Julia lives next to the forest and befriended many of the animals, but there is one animal she really wants to meet--a bear. She tries to attract them, but efforts fail. One day while she is reading a book about a bear and surrounded by her forest friends, her mom calls her to lunch. When she returns, she finds her book gone with a trail of blueberry-covered footprints leaving the area. What will Julia find? This is a cute book which encourages reading. The illustrations, while not Caldecott-worthy, are colorful enough to keep non-reading children interested as an adult reads aloud. I spotted this in the "Read Now" section at NetGalley and downloaded it in exchange for an honest review.

The book, How to Catch a Bear Who Loves to Read, is a little far-fetched. The illustrations are good, but the story is a little odd. Julia, the girl, is reading a book about a bear and decides she wants to get a bear hug. But first, she needs to find a bear. And even though bears are dangerous, this is fiction, and she and her skunk friend should find one. She tries to lure a bear, without success.

Until she leaves her book behind and the bear finds it. She follows his footsteps back to his house and they read the book together and she gets her bear hug. The book makes multiple references to "farting" and having a "farting contest" which isn't really appropriate for little ones. I would have given the age range on this from 2-4, but little ones shouldn't really be repeating "farting" all the time.