Member Reviews
What a delightful book with a big message! We have a bear theme at our preschool each year and I'm always looking for bear books outside of the Winnie the Pooh family. This book went straight into my Amazon cart; it will be perfect to add to our shelves during that unit. I'm a sucker for wonderful illustrations and Thompson did a remarkable job. There is so much detail and culture represented with each bear family leading to even more topics of discussion and discovery. I love that each page has a little hidden teddy bear that adds another fun element of investigation to the book. The end papers highlight different species of bears noting where they are found and a fun fact about them. I would introduce one each day of our unit. Finally, this book is more than great illustrations - the message packs a powerful punch! The Koalas are distressed by all the new, "other" bears and focus on their differences. The Koala children however focus on what elements they bring that are positive, such as their games, stories and songs. It's a beautiful picture of how to welcome in newcomers. I can see great discussions being fostered around the idea that we are all different, but we all contribute to life and we should appreciate that and treat each other kindly.