A favourite bedtime story for a boy takes him deep into the story of a bear getting ready to hibernate for the long dark winter. Entering the world within the book, the boy watches the bear get ready for his long sleep. He stays quiet so as not to wake him and turns the pages softly so as not to disturb the bear while he explores all the things others are doing as the bear sleeps on. A beautiful bedtime story that captures the closeness between a book and its reader.
It's time for bed, and a little boy chooses his favorite book for his mother to read to him. He identifies with the bear in the book who is preparing for his own deep slumber, hibernating through the winter while humans and other animals explore the snowy landscape around him. Just when the bear wakes up to greet the spring, the boy drifts off to sleep.
Hallensleben's rich, impressionistic artwork moves seamlessly between warm domestic scenes of the pair reading and vibrant natural landscapes with plenty of seasonal detail. With its quiet, gentle tone, this is perfect for one on-one bedtime reading. -- Kristen McKulski Booklist
The most valuable thing about this gem might be that it demonstrates a best practice, to the benefit of children and parents alike. School Library Journal
An extraordinary portrait of the tender, meandering, and inquisitive nature of reading together. Publishers Weekly
In The Bear in the Book, readers are in the hands of two masters - Banks with her well-chosen words and Hallensleben with his lush, color-saturated paintings. New York Times Book Review
Author
About Georg Hallensleben, Kate Banks
Author Kate Banks and illustrator Georg Hallensleben have collaborated on several books, including And If the Moon Could Talk, winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, The Cat Who Walked Across France, Close Your Eyes, and The Night Worker, winner of the Charlotte Zolotow Award. Banks lives in the South of France with her husband and two sons. Hallensleben lives in Paris with his wife and three children.
