Blog #17 Bear Snores On

Bear Snores On 

Written by Karma Wilson
Illustrated by Jane Chapman
McElderry Books
2002
30 pages

Fantasy

            I chose this book because the title and cover art caught my attention; I thought maybe something might happen with the crowd of animals that might keep bear from snoring on. In this story, there is a great storm. Starting with a mouse, animals begin to come to the bear’s lair to escape the blizzard outside. Each time an animal comes, they bring food to add to the party. The animals make stew and add to much pepper, and accidentally wake up the bear! To find out what happens to the animals after the bear wakes up you have to read the book!

            The illustrations were rendered in acrylic. This medium allows for a layering of colors and textures throughout the book. The book alternates from single page spreads with large vignettes on the opposite page to balance the print to double page spreads to display the entire scene of the story. The single page spreads with opposing vignettes are used when new characters are introduced in the story, and the double page spreads are used to display the bear sleeping as the animal gather around him. The glowing reds, yellows, and oranges reflect the warm and cozy feeling of the bear’s den. This stands in contrast with the cold blues and whites of the outside scene depicting the blizzard. 

            This is an excellent book for younger ages when introducing poetry and poetry language. This book includes onomatopoeias, line refrain, end rhyme, and alliteration to name a few. Teachers could use this book to introduce a poetry lesson, have students complete sentence stems to write another animal that might join the party and what that animal might bring, then have them write a sentence about that animal using either alliteration or an onomatopoeia. This could also be used as a counting book. Teachers could use this book to have kindergarteners count the number of animals in the cave at certain times in the story.

To visit Karma Wilson's website, click on her name.