Member Reviews

This is not an artistic style that I personally prefer - I feel it looks weirdly outdated and just generally awkward. But that is definitely just a personal preference. The simplicity of the words in this are good and straightforward. It gives a positive idea about how even 'scary' animals should be cared for. However, the idea that a mother and child should take it upon themselves to approach a distraught mother bear is really very very bad advice.

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When You're Scared is a nearly wordless picture book about a mother and son who encounter a bear and her cub while on a camping trip. The experience of mother and son is compared and presented in alternating spreads with that of the bear and cub until their experiences overlap. This is a sweet book and the illustrations offer lots of fun details to find and talk about.

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When You're Scared by Andrée Poulin is a story about a young boy overcoming his fears while out with his mother on a camping trip. As a single parent, I love the image presented of a boy and his mother doing outdoor activities. 

The illustrations by Veronique Joffre are simple, yet eye-catching. Holding the reader's attention throughout. The text is basic, therefore the illustrations really do drive the majority of the story. 

This story is a perfect add on for lessons about overcoming fears.

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I received a digital ARC from Netgalley to review.

This picture book unravels nearly wordless through bold and beautiful illustrations. To be honest, I believe this book could have been more powerful without any words, allowing the reader to tell the story solely through the illustrations, which are strong enough as a stand alone.

Good book for inferring and even writing lessons in the younger grades K-2.

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A great book to use to explore emotions with young children. A boy and his mother go camping and the boy is scared of jumping into the water and a little bear cub is scared to dive into the dumpster. When the mama bear and cub need help, the boy and his mother put aside their fear to help out.

Beautiful illustrations complement the text allowing for this mainly wordless picture book to build narrative skills and vocabulary through each retelling.

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My boys (3 & 8) really enjoyed this book. We read an advanced copy tonight before bed. I liked that the first few pages didn’t have any words so we talked about what we observed on each page. Then as we progressed the pages did have words but it was fun to discuss the book as we went along. The illustrations were simple but also thoughtful. You see the mother and her son and the bear cub and it’s mama overcome their fear. It also touches on perspective as the mama bear l was trying to help her cub escape but the young boy seemed to feel that the mama bear might be ready to attack him. Thoughtful and enjoyable. A good bedtime book. https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/154698

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All children feel scared at some time and learning how to cope is an important life skill. This book may help.

A child and their mother are going camping. At the same time a bear cub and its mother are out and about. In a way that parallels the book Blueberries for Sal, the cub and the child have similar experiences. Each learns to cope and is less frightened at this picture book's end.

The illustration in this book are engaging. The story line is simple and consists mostly of a few repeated sentences. This book provides a sweet way to look at fear and being brave. It also shows how helping others can be a good coping mechanism.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this e-proof in exchange for my opinion.

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Amazing pictures I really enjoy books that use illustrations to help tell the story. We are also seeing an increase in patrons requesting books of this type for their young children. It let them become more involved in the story and a part of the imagination that can be used when reading it.

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This was a very sweet story. The book is primarily illustrations, which are beautifully done. It is a compassionate story about worry, the human connection with animals and how we all have feelings. Although the book doesn't have a lot of words, it allows for discussion while reading it which is great for a book about worries. Our kids really enjoyed this one and especially loved the ending. Thank you to NetGalley and Owlkids books for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

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This simple, colorful book will surely please young children and parents with its vibrancy. This is very much a picture book with a limited number of words, which allows parents and children to have open conversations about what is happening in the pages.

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Thanks to Owlkids Books and NetGalley for making an advance copy of this title available in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

What a wonderful book! I grinned from cover to cover as the parallel problems of bear and human connected. This multi-species mother and child tale is sure to please anyone who has every been outside their comfort zone and anyone who's ever wanted to come up with creative solutions to their own or other's problems. A delight!

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Oh, so, sweet! I loved this mostly wordless story! A mom and her son go camping and are scared by an encounter with a mother bear and her child. Both sets of parent/children are frightened until little bear falls into a trash dumpster! Then it's human mom and her son to the rescue! I lived the illustrations. Lovely!

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Thank you NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

A beautifully illustrated children's book with vibrant colors shared a camping story about a boy and his mom and a bear and its cub. The boy and mom encounter the bear and cub and are scared.
This short story shows what happens when animals need our help.

A wonderful story to share with kids!

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I have very mixed feelings on this wonderfully illustrated book written by Andree Poulin and illustrated by Veronique Joffre.

The positives: Poulin's story and Joffre's cutout illustrations tell a nice story about a boy and his mother on a camping trip in the woods, and combine that with a tale of a mother bear and her cub in the same woods. Both the boy and the cub face times when they are scared and overcame those moments.

The negatives: I liked the story right up until the boy sees the mother bear by a dumpster looking for her missing cub. While it is very nice that the mother and boy helped the bears, you should not come between a mother bear and her cub. This part of the story could get someone hurt. Now that is probably just the mother in me, and as an avid hiker in bear country who knows better.

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