Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Little Bear

Little Bear Boxed Set: Little Bear, Father Bear Comes Home, and Little Bear's Visit

Rate this book
Introduce a new generation of children to Little Bear, the classic, beloved character from Else Holmelund Minarik and Maurice Sendak, with this boxed gift set containing three paperback editions in the series. Little Bear : Meet Little Bear, a friend to millions of children. And meet Mother Bear, who is there whenever Little Bear needs her. When it is cold and snowy outside, she finds just the right outfit for Little Bear to play in. When he goes to the moon, she has a hot lunch waiting for him on his return. And, of course, she never forgets his birthday. Father Bear Comes Home : Welcome home, Father Bear! Little Bear’s father is finally coming home from a long fishing trip. Little Bear is very excited to see him—even if he doesn’t bring the toy Little Bear has been hoping for! Little Bear's Visit : Little Bear likes to visit Grandmother and Grandfather Bear. He likes Grandfather’s hat and Grandmother’s cooking. But most of all, he loves to listen to their stories! The popularity of Else Holmelund Minarik's I Can Read Books about Little Bear has continued across generations. These timeless classics feature beautiful, detailed illustrations from Maurice Sendak, the Caldecott Medal-winning creator of Where the Wild Things Are . With short chapters and sweet, appealing stories, the Little Bear stories work well for lap reading or in a classroom or library setting.

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

10 people are currently reading
343 people want to read

About the author

Else Holmelund Minarik

143 books152 followers
Else Holmelund Minarik was the author of the Little Bear series of children's books, which were successful as books, and were also made into a successful children's TV series. The Little Bear books sold more than 6 million copies worldwide.

Else Minarik was also the author of another well-known book, No Fighting, No Biting!

She was born in Denmark, and with her family immigrated to the United States at the age of four. After she graduated from Queens College, City University of New York she became a journalist for the Rome Daily Centennial newspaper and taught first-graders during WWII. Minarik lived in Nottingham, New Hampshire.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
571 (58%)
4 stars
280 (28%)
3 stars
105 (10%)
2 stars
11 (1%)
1 star
12 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
Profile Image for Aiza Idris (biblio_mom).
622 reviews211 followers
February 10, 2021
How could i not be in love in this adorable Little Bear story? me and my son gets the best nights reading this book by chapter. our favourites are the story about Little Bear and The Goblin. They made us smile and laughed.

Its one of the best bedtime story we had. not forgetting the beautiful hardcover version. it made things better.
Profile Image for Ali.
77 reviews28 followers
November 16, 2025
An absolute classic in my opinion. Read with the class/ Reread for me
Profile Image for Glasdow Teacosy.
Author 2 books22 followers
June 29, 2015
This is an adorable collection and a favorite of all four of my girls. Oddly, only three of the five Little Bear books are included in this treasury. Sendak's artwork is delightful, but sometimes people forget that he only illustrated the books. Else Minarik's narration is whimsical, warm, and reminiscent of a forgotten time. I imagine it was quaint and old fashioned when "Little Bear" was first published in the late 50s, but Minarik's cleverness gives these stories a timeless quality that is clearly part of the series' appeal so many decades later.
Profile Image for Carl.
31 reviews4 followers
February 19, 2016
Sweet. touching stories with absolutely beautiful illustrations. Whether or not you have a "little bear" in your life, these books are wonderful.

> update... had some time with my little bear yesterday to read this with him. He's just learned the word "birthday", so he really like the Birthday Soup story, which has always been a favourite of mine too.
Profile Image for Kat.
2,395 reviews117 followers
April 9, 2019
Basic Premise: Little Bear does Little Bear things.

This was one of my favorite books when I was a little kid. I read and reread this collection more times than I can count. The pictures from the book are still clear as day in my memory.
Profile Image for Laura.
Author 2 books30 followers
December 31, 2020
Not only do I love this book, our four-year-old grandson adores it. Every Sunday we have a zoom call (Covid has preempted our visits to because they live out of state). We often read books to him and The Little Bear Treasure is one of the books he requests often.

I highly recommend it - children and the adults that read to them will both be enchanted by the stories.
Profile Image for Katterley.
327 reviews
August 27, 2018
I had never read these books until I watched them on television with my children. I had to get them for the library. The stories have such a wonderful pace and Mr. Sendak's illustrations are just as classical as the words on the pages. Beautiful and highly recommended.
Profile Image for Tranylle.
933 reviews1 follower
March 11, 2019
The kids and I have been reading this over the past 2 months and finally finished. I love that the stories are simple and short, but fun and engaging for the kids. I was even able to get my reluctant reader who is 7 to take turns reading sentences in it.
Profile Image for P.S. Winn.
Author 104 books365 followers
October 14, 2017
Great book with cute stories, fun illustrations and an excellent book for parents and grandparents to share with the young ones they love.
48 reviews
Read
April 30, 2014
The book Little Bear’s Visit written by Else Holmelund Minarik is a chapter book that includes four different chapters. In the first chapter, ‘Grandmother and Grandfather bear’, little bear goes to visit his grandparents where they feed him all types of good food, such as cake and cookies and milk and honey. Then, little bear and grandfather sit down outside where little bear wants grandfather to read him a story, but upon his return, he is already asleep. Little bear then goes on to find his grandmother, where he asks her to tell him a story about his mother, and that’s when the chapter ‘Mother Bear’s Robin’ begins. This story is about when mother bear finds a baby robin in the garden but cannot find it nest. Mother bear takes the baby bird inside and builds him a nest by the window and with time, the baby grows enough to fly. One day though, the robin was very sad because it could not sing a song so mother bear takes him outside and makes the difficult choice of letting the bird go, so it can fulfill its life as a signing bird. Little bear was so happy to hear this story that his mother made the selfless decision to let the bird go and says he would have done the same thing. Finally, grandfather bear wakes up and tells little bear another story called ‘Goblin Story’. In this chapter, a little goblin gets so scared after hearing a noise in a cave he jumps out of his shoes and begins to run away in fear that something is chasing after him. He finally reaches a hole in a tree where he jumps in to hide but the noises came closer. The little goblin finally peaks out of the tree to find the noise was only his little shoes chasing after him because they didn’t want to get left behind. Little bear and his grandfather giggle about the story and little bear heads back inside to sit on the couch and wait for his mother. Little bear pretends to fall asleep and listens to his grandparents and parents talk about how much fun they had, and gets caught for faking sleeping, but soon enough little bear was fast asleep. This was a very entertaining book as it included two stories by both grandmother bear and grandfather bear, which children in a classroom would enjoy listening too.
91 reviews2 followers
December 12, 2023
Beautiful art, and some of the stories are true gems.
Profile Image for Rachel.
2,839 reviews63 followers
November 6, 2013
This treasury included three books, "Little Bear," "Little Bear's Friend" and the Caldecott Honor book for 1962, "Little Bear's Visit". Apparently I had read "Little Bear", the first book in this treasury, back in 2009 but didn't remember it. Oh well, it wasn't any better the second time. I know this series is really popular but I just didn't like it. The text flow was off and the stories were awkward. The illustrations by Maurice Sendak are pretty much the treasury's only redeeming quality. I liked "Little Bear's Visit" the best, though didn't even manage to get through "Little Bear's Friend". It told the story of Little Bear visiting his grandparents and the stories they told him and what he ate. Little Bear reminded me a bit of my son. Recommended for ages 3-6, 2 stars.
Profile Image for Heather.
28 reviews6 followers
April 24, 2012
Currently reading this book. We just finished Wind in the Willows, and this book is going to ZOOM right on by us. I was hoping it was going to be 1/2 in the middle of Wind in the Willows & 1/2 between Frog & Toad are friends. Only cause I'm tired of reading Frog & Toad. <3 them don't get me wrong, it's tiresome reading it 1000 times tho. This is a very very easy book to read. Surely the kids can DIY on this one & leave me out of it. ;)
118 reviews4 followers
Read
May 10, 2009
To celebrate Little Bear's thirty-fifth anniversary, three paperback editions in the series—Little Bear, Father Bear Comes Home, and Little Bear's Visit—have been slipcased in a boxed gift set for a whole new generation of children.

Profile Image for Lucia Benzor.
180 reviews3 followers
December 15, 2010
Okay so I only read Little Bear's visit but it wasn't there by itself. This was funny, easy to read, and a classic. You can't find books written like this anymore. Even the pictures, because the book is old, can give reader's insight as to how things used to be in the olden days. Funny!
Profile Image for Emily.
821 reviews43 followers
October 27, 2013
This book contains three of the Little Bear stories. I love every one of these stories and can remember reading them when I was little. The three stories are Little Bear, Little Bear's Friend, and Little Bear's Visit.
Profile Image for Rants and Bants.
423 reviews3 followers
October 14, 2015
I will never forget Little Bear. Probably some of my earliest childhood memories, and a time of literally 100% pure innocence.

Profile Image for Ted Shaffner.
89 reviews14 followers
July 30, 2014
A wonderful book with illustrations by Maurice Sendak (who did Where the Wild Things Are).
Profile Image for Gretchen.
391 reviews15 followers
May 14, 2008
These books are wonderful--they teach many things we want our children to learn and they are good for beginning readers--the drawings are great.
104 reviews
February 10, 2009
Oh, how I love Little Bear and his family & friends! This author is really in tune with how little people see the world ~ it's a delightful read and you don't have to have children to enjoy it.
Profile Image for Lori.
271 reviews
Read
August 12, 2009
I never get tired of Little Bear! And now Michaela is reading a few words, too!
Profile Image for Theresa.
8,282 reviews135 followers
December 14, 2013
early reader set, have the set that i own, and they were in the library for early elementary education
29 reviews1 follower
July 15, 2013
Caleb (5) liked it well enough. But I was surprised at how well it held Jacob's attention at age 3. He loved it. Maybe because he is my Osito :)
Profile Image for Kate.
66 reviews19 followers
January 31, 2016
Mother Bear is a fairly discouraging figure, but Sendak's illustrations are wonderful.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.