Once I Was a Bear
Once I Was a Bear
Select a format:
Publisher's Hardcover ©2020--
To purchase this item, you must first login or register for a new account.
Scholastic Book Service
Annotation: A beautiful, beguiling tale about adapting to change and finding your place. Especially comforting during this time of s... more
 
Reviews: 1
Catalog Number: #213675
Format: Publisher's Hardcover
Copyright Date: 2020
Edition Date: 2020 Release Date: 09/01/20
Pages: 1 volume (unpaged)
ISBN: 1-338-35633-X
ISBN 13: 978-1-338-35633-5
Dewey: E
LCCN: 2019036086
Dimensions: 24 cm.
Language: English
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews

When is it time to shed one's fur?Luxbacher offers a metaphor for the way past experience remains part of oneself. A young brown bear, fuzzy and big-eyed, plays in a sunlit forest, with spring green leaves and bright, slightly abstract flowers in bloom. "Once I lived in a forest of tall trees," the narrator bear explains. "A bright circle in the sky"-the sun-gave shape to the day. "I was never afraid." The full-color, edge-to-edge art is dreamy and gently whimsical. As the air grows colder, something happens: The little bear hibernates, dreams, and emerges in "a different kind of wilderness." This new environment has a human adult, a house, tall buildings, a classroom where "a different circle"-a clock-tells when to rest and play. The bear's classmates look like human children, but wild creatures in the same clothes hover over some of them. On the last page the small bear in a yellow shirt has become a human child with white skin and brown hair, playing with a child with brown skin and hair, and a bear and a deer play together in the background. The transformation is a bit abrupt but nevertheless rings metaphorically true, encouraging the appreciation of one's own story and recognizing different experiences of loss and change. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 19.8% of actual size.)Imaginative and poetically resonant. (Picture book. 3-7)

Reviewing Agencies: - Find Other Reviewed Titles
Kirkus Reviews
Word Count: 229
Reading Level: 2.4
Interest Level: P-2
Accelerated Reader: reading level: 2.4 / points: 0.5 / quiz: 513819 / grade: Lower Grades

A beautiful, beguiling tale about adapting to change and finding your place. Especially comforting during this time of social distancing and uncertainty about the future.

"Imaginative and poetically resonant." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Considers nature's way of connecting us to ourselves and to others...poetically expresses feelings of dislocation, vulnerability, and strength." -- Quill & Quire, starred review

Oh, to be a bear in the forest! To rest and play, day after day, always feeling safe and at home. But when change fills the air, and it's time to journey into a different kind of wilderness, will it ever feel the same?

This sensitively imagined story illuminates the difficult transitions we all must face as we learn how to be at home in the world.


*Prices subject to change without notice and listed in US dollars.
Perma-Bound bindings are unconditionally guaranteed (excludes textbook rebinding).
Paperbacks are not guaranteed.
Please Note: All Digital Material Sales Final.