Cuddle up with your little bears to read these bear stories (The Walker Book of Bear Stories - Michael Rosen)

Member Name: takeachance

Product:	The Walker Book of Bear Stories - Michael Rosen
Date:	08/08/09 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good price, lovely hardback book, daughter loves it, nice pictures

Disadvantages: I dont like all of the stories

I recently took my daughter to an open day for her new school she is due to start in September.
We met her new teacher and looked around the new classroom, to be honest it was mayhem! 24 children, some playing, some screaming, some crying and some holding on to mummy! 40 odd adults, parents that were eager to see where their child will be going for the next year, some playing, some screaming, some crying and some holing on to their little ones!

When the teacher shouted 'Who wants a story?' a miracle occured. The room went quiet, the children all sat on the mat, the parents all stood around the edge of the room and a calm descended.

I stood there thinking 'ha, this won't last long'.

I was wrong.

The teacher knew exactly what she was doing.
She knew that she was armed with 'We're going on a bear hunt'
The children were enthralled and my daughter became an instant fan.

That evening I knew that I had to find a copy for home. I found it available online for around a fiver but also stumbled across this little gem.
The Walker Book Of Bear STories. The first story being 'we're going on a bear hunt'.
At £5.64 delivered for a hard back of 18 delightful bear stories! It has an RRP of £9.99

WE'RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT by Michael Rosen
The whole reason we have this book!
When the family decide to go on a bear hunt they must surpass many obstacles. Long wavy grass, swishy swashy, swishy swashy.
A deep cold river, splash splosh, splash splosh.
Thick oozy mud, squelch squerch, squelch squerch.
A big dark forest, stumble trip, stumble trip etc etc
In the cave they actually find a bear!
Quick, back the way they came, back to the safety of the house. Dont forget to lock the door!
It is easy to see why little ones enjoy this. The rhyming repetitivesness makes it fun for them to join in and you can even make up some fun actions!

THIS IS THE BEAR WITH THE PICNIC LUNCH by Sarah Hayes
When a boy leaves his teddy bear to guard his packed lunch he hadnt bargained on the dog sniffing about! Is he angry when he finds teddy and dog sharing his lunch? Oh no, he makes another lunch and they all sit and share.
This is another delightful rhyming verse story.

SKIP TRIP by John Burningham
2 pages, 14 words of opposites delightfully illustrated.
It does look like they just had to fill in a page here. Its not really a story but my daughter enjoyed looking at it nonetheless.

LASKA THE POLAR BEAR by Derek Hall
A delightful story about a baby polar bear who gets seperated from his mother when the ice they are on breaks! THe story tells of how the mother gets her baby back just in the nick of time from the icy water in her big strong jaws. It ends with them cuddling together and having a sleep after their adventure.

WHERE'S MY TEDDY by Jez Alborough
When I ask my little one to pick a story she'd like to ear from this book this is always her second choice.
Basically a little boy has lost hos teddy and at the same time a huge bear has lost his teddy. When they each find eachothers they are not sure what has happened. The boys teddy is too small for the bear and the bears teddy is too big for the boy but they soon see each other and swap back and each run back to their homes clinging onto their teddys to their beds.

GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS
A delightful version of this childrens classic although I must admit to not likeing the illustrations on this. The bears to me look a bit 'fok like'.

MIDNIGHT TEDDIES by Dana Kubik
This story is about some old teddies in a loft and I have to admit here that its long and my daughter never lets me finish reading it.

LITTLE MO by Martin Waddell
A lovely little story about a little polar bear learning to ice skate.
This story is beautifully illustrated and my daughter laughs whenever the
bear falls with a BUMP!

A VISIT FROM BEAR by Colin Threadgall
This is about a troublesome bear who bothers all the animals in the forest when he visits. He doesnt allowthem to sleep or have any peace and quiet. The other animals get together to see how they can get rid of bear and decide to throw sticks at him! It works and they get some peace and quiet until bear decides to visit again ...

SAILOR BEAR by Martin Waddell
Small sailor bear was lost and had no one to play with. He decides to make a boat from an old barrel but the sea looks too big! Obviously he goes to the park where he finds a small sea (?) but his boat sinks and hes left shivering on a rock!
The next morning he's found by a little girl who takes him home and looks after him and he never went back to sea again!

WOBBLE POP by John Burningham
Yes, they decided to give thisguy another double spread!
drip ...scrub ...slop ...wipe ...wobble ...pop ...bump ...swat ...squeeze ...splash... bubble... stumble
Yes thats really it! Can hardly be classed as a story really!

FIRST SNOW by Kim Lewis
Mummy and Sara takeb teddy and go out in the snow to feed the sheep. In all the excitement and activities Sarah looses teddy! But the snow is coming down hard and making everything white and they cant see teddy!
Then out of the whiteness one of the sheep dogs appear carrying teddy and Sara hugs him tight.

HELLO GOODBYE by David Lloyd
A tree stood quietly in the sunshine. The animals all join it enjoying the sunshine 'hello' 'hello' comes from the voices in the leaves and in the branches. Even big bear comes over. Suddenly there are big sploshes of rain and the friends disappear one by one 'goodbye' 'goodbye'.
Seriously, this story does nothing for me but my daughter likes it.

EAT YOUR DINNER by Virginia Miller
Big bear and little bear are having dinner. Little bear wont eat though and big bear goes to fetch cake for pudding. Little bear isn't allowed any until he eats his dinner and soon gobbles it down so that he too can have cake. Big bear even saves him the piece with the cherry on top. A lovely little story that all parents can relate to!

WHEN THE TEDDY BEARS CAME by Martin Waddell
When a new baby comes into the house lots of people visit and bring with them lots of teddy bears. Big brother Tom is woried that there will be no room for him so mummy puts him on her lapand lets him look after the teddies and help with the new baby.

BEN AND THE BEAR by Chris Riddell
Ben is bored so he sets off into the snow where he bumps into bear and invites him home for tea.
Little did he know that he was going to be bears tea! (just kidding, wanted to see if you were still reading!) They eat, they dance, they make a mess, they tidy up. Ben isnt bored anymore and tomorrow hes going to tea at bears house!

MY OLD TEDDY by Dom Mansell
Poor old teddy keeps loosing parts. An arm, an ear and mummy is teddy doctor and fixes him. One day poor old teddys head falls off and teddy doctor says that old teddy really needs a rest now. She buys a new teddy but old teddy will always be loved and the favourite. Dear old, poor old teddy.


LETS GO HOME LITTLE BEAR by Martin Waddell

Big bear and little bear go for a walk in the woods. Little bear keeps hearing sounds in the forest and big bear always keeps him safe and gives him an explanantion as to what the sounds are.
Big bear carries little bear home to their cave where little bear will feel safe again.

We do like this book but must admit that the reason we bought it has remained the favourite story. It costs no more that buying 'We're going on a bear hunt' on its own so really all the other stories are a bonus.

Summary: We're going on a bear hunt remains our favourite