The Bear's Song

Little Bear and Papa Bear #1

by Benjamin Chaud

New York Times Notable Children's Book

"Sweet" has new meaning in this richly illustrated, immersive picture book about two bears on a big-city adventure. Papa Bear is searching for Little Bear, who has escaped the den. Little Bear is following a bee, because where there are bees, there is honey! When the quest leads both bears into the bustling city and a humming opera house, theatrical hijinks ensue, culminating in a deliciously harmonious reunion. Children and parents alike will savor Benjamin Chaud's lush illustrations, and relish in the book's bonus seek-and-find elements.

Looking for more Papa Bear and Little Bear? Check out Bear's Sea Escape!

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Fiction, Storytime, Adventure, Family

24 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Benjamin Chaud was born in Briançon in the Hautes-Alpes and he studied drawing and applied arts at the Arts Appliqués in Paris and the Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg. He’s worked with numerous publishers including Albin Michel and Actes Sud, and his award-winning books have been translated into over twenty languages.

Reviews

[La Coccinelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a feeling that some of the charm of the text got lost in translation. The narrative was just okay for me. Far more enjoyable was looking at the intricate illustrations.

Papa Bear awakes to find that his son has gone missing from their den. He chases him into the city, and then into an opera house. At some point, Papa Bear ends up on stage, and decides to sing the Bear's Song, an ursine lullaby. Of course, it doesn't quite have the same effect on humans as it does on bear cubs, and panic ensues. But in the chaos, Papa Bear finds his son, and discovers why the kid ran off in the first place.

I read this as an e-book, and it was really difficult to see all the little details in the pictures. I would hope that this is a rather large physical book; it needs to be, if you want to be able to see everything in the illustrations.

I wasn't blown away by this, but I enjoyed it well enough that I wouldn't hesitate to read the other books in the series... preferably in physical editions, though.

Quotable moment:

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Papa Bear is just settling in for his winter's hibernation when he realizes that Little Bear, who has run off chasing an enticing bee, is nowhere to be found. Setting out to find his wayward son, our paternal ursine hero traverses the forest, the city, and a busy opera house before finally finding what he is looking for. His 'song,' when he finds himself unexpectedly up on stage, may not have much appeal for the human attendees, but Little Bear finds it very appealing. Little Bear, for his part, has something to share - something very sweet! - with his father...

Originally published in France as Une chanson d'ours, this delightful first adventure featuring Papa Bear and Little Bear pairs an engaging text with absolutely gorgeous artwork. The book is quite tall, even for a picture-book, and each two-page spread depicts a busy world, whether that be a forest or a city. Young readers and listeners will enjoy finding Little Bear on each page, and will likewise enjoy Papa's search. There is so much to look at here, and so many humorous details, from the two foresters who leave behind their saw to climb a tree, when they see Papa Bear, to the boy with bear-hat that Papa Bear initially mistakes for Little Bear. The colors in The Bear's Surprise are vivid and deep, but they're also subtle, and beautifully matched and contrasted with one another. All in all, this was a real pleasure, and more than enough to convince me to track down subsequent stories about this ursine duo. Recommended to anyone looking for beautifully-illustrated picture-books, or children's stories featuring bears and/or reassuring father-child reunions.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every page sings. Verbally and visually. The longing of Papa Bear is not overdone but just right, and neither is the happy reunion. (Also perfectly restrained are the colors.) And oh how I love all the people, going about their gloriously grown up lives.

[Jennifer B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

So rich and full of detail, the bear books are a delight!

[Romain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ne vous y trompez pas, Les éditions Hélium n’ont pas opté pour un très grand format qu’à des fins esthétiques ou mercantiles. La principale raison est de permettre aux lecteurs de profiter pleinement de – ou de simplement voir – tous les détails qui emplissent chaque double-page de ce livre et d’y chercher papa ours et surtout petit ours. Il y a un peu de Où est Charlie ?, mais avec une histoire narrée dans un récitatif figurant dans une bande en bas des pages.

Alors que papa ours s’installe tranquillement avec petit ours dans sa tanière pour hiberner, ce dernier aperçoit une abeille et qui dit abeille dit miel. La gourmandise légendaire des ours pour ce met pousse petit ours à quitter son refuge pour poursuivre l’insecte et ses rêves sucrés. Ceci au grand désarroi de papa ours qui doit tant bien que mal se soustraire au doux engourdissement qui commençait à le gagner pour suivre ou plutôt poursuivre son rejeton. Il n’est pas au bout de ses peines et l’oeil vif d’un petit lecteur attentif lui sera d’un grand secours pour l’aider à identifier son petit au milieu des paysages traversés. La gourmandise de petits ours les emmènera loin de leur forêt, vers des contrées de plus en plus insolites pour deux ours.

Un très bon livre qui allie habilement histoire et jeu. Une belle idée brillamment réalisée par Benjamin Chaud. Si vous êtes du même avis que moi, vous serez content d’apprendre que les aventures du petit ours et de son papa ne s’arrêteront pas là. Elles se poursuivront dans Coquillages et petit ours.

Également publié sur mon blog.

[Deborah]

Little Bear ran off to chase a bee — out of the woods, through the city, to the opera house — where did he go? Like WHERE'S WALDO, only much, much cuter.

[Nouru-éddine · Rating 2 out of 5]

The adventure is best enjoyed together.

[Jack & Lily Wills · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the feature of finding the papa and baby bear on each page - kept it more engaging! Great story, too.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations are so full of little details! It's quite fun to try and find Papa Bear among the images.

[Kimiya · Rating 3 out of 5]

"And adventure is best enjoyed together."

[deedee watts · Rating 5 out of 5]

love how barely anyone was phased by the bear on the streets of paris... riiiiiiight

[Lisa Suchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bear’s Song is a wonderful picture book by Benjamin Chaud, an author and illustrator from France. The book is about Little Bear, a mischievous character who should be hibernating but is fascinated with a honey bee and chases it right out of the forest! Papa Bear awakes and becomes worried. He begins to look for for Little Bear. He cannot find him in the forest, so he keeps searching and eventually runs out of the forest. Through the hustle and bustle of the city, Papa Bear thinks he spots Little Bear, “Through the crowd, Papa Bear catches sight of two fuzzy ears. Could they belong to Little Bear?”

Through Papa Bear’s search, he finds himself at an opera house and ends up tumbling on stage in front of an audience of people! Papa Bear is frightened! He has an idea and knows exactly what to do in order to find Little Bear. Papa Bear sings a bear lullaby and Little Bear is found!

Children will love the comedy within Papa Bear’s lullaby to Little Bear. “The Bear’s Song” is a lighthearted book about the love Papa Bear has for his Little Bear. The storyline itself is very simple, with not much depth. However, the illustrations are beautiful. They are of a “hide-and-seek” element. As I read, I was reminiscent of searching to “Where’s Waldo?”. After every page, I excitedly searched for Papa Bear, Little Bear and the bee in the lush illustrations. The size of the book is larger than standard, ~14 inches tall, and makes this picture book even more fun! This would be a great book to use for younger children in K or 1st grade.

[Jim Erekson · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are just super illustrations! Chaud's retro style (I'd say it harks to mid-60s cartoons and animation) is way fun to look at. Each of his panoramic scenes pulled me in for LOT of looking. He draws from that great European illustrators' tradition of having a busy scene filled with lots of action, including many human and animal figures to watch, and with a variety of random narratives going on within the double-page spread. The book has a search-and-find game going on page to page, where the little bear is genuinely difficult to spot on many of the pages--with some decoys thrown in to make it even harder! I love it when an illustrator can get me totally lost in a picture and I forget I'm reading. The words here aren't so interesting, because they were just there to get me looking at what's going on in each picture. But the narrative line of the words was just enough to make it more than a mere imitation of a Where's Waldo book.

Hmm. Could it have been better as a wordless picturebook? Remember Bear Despair?

This is in UNC's Michener collection.

[Valerie Lurquin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Bear's Song is by Benjamin Chaud, a French author. This beautifully illustrated book is about Little Bear and Papa Bear on a big adventure in the city. Little Bear has escaped the den and Papa Bear sets out to find him. Little Bear left the den to follow a bee, because he was in search of some honey. The bears are led to an opera house, where they are reunited after several silly events. There are several pros to this book as the illustrations are beautiful and can also be used as a seek and find for younger students. The pages show you images of a forest, the city, and an opera house. I also enjoyed that the author placed the text along the bottom of the page, so the reader's attention is drawn towards the detailed illustrations. I would use this book for any early elementary classroom. It can be used as a seek and find for the students to complete independently, as well as to discuss safety when leaving you family without them knowing. The book can also be used during the theme of a city and community helpers that go along with each scene.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot to digest in this tall picture book; it's hard to follow the text in the illustrations - but a child would have a BALL with it, especially with the other characters' antics. Initially overwhelming, conclusively fantastic and delightful.

This was a selection for the Butler Center's Mock CaldeNott - considering only picture books for children published outside the United States. Even though I wasn't able to attend the discussion, I got hold of all ten of the shortlisted books and quickly devoured them.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up while browsing with my son. He enjoyed it but it was really for me. The illustrations are gorgeous and I just wanted to take it home and study it. Full of detail and life, stylised, beautifully coloured and so much fun. Seeing all the people living their fancy lives in Paris, the Opera House, the costumes, the little details. It's fantastic.

The story itself is somewhat slight but it serves the purpose.

Lovely work. I'll have to keep an eye out for Benjamin Chaud's work in the future.

[Katt Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Papa Bear has misplaced his cub and so goes on a series of adventures to find him. The storybook itself is huge and fun to look at, with pictures very detailed and a "Where's Waldo" kind of thing going on where you can hunt down Baby Bear in most of the pictures. His song isn't what you expect, which brings a bust of laughter and the story ends on a satisfying note.

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 5 out of 5]

5* art
5* story

Squirt loves looking for the little bear - he hardly cares about anything else. So this book will be wonderful to revisit as he grows and begins to see all the crazy rest of this book! Awesome, awesome illustrations!

[forthefamilyssake Hailey White · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the simple sentence structure seems geared more towards the early reader, the illustrations are lovely. My children have enjoyed this library pick immensely and frequently pick it up to look at the illustrations.

[Kai Charles(Fiction State Of Mind) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is beautifully illustrated with a simple but enjoyable story. Father Bear has awoken from a previous hibernation nap to find his son has run off, chasing a bee! As Father chases after him the reader is treated to wonderful illustrated scenes in the country and the city. a sweet read!

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Follow along with Baby Bear as he decides that an adventure sounds more interesting than hibernation. He discovers a bee and follows it through the forest and city and winds up in an opera house. Papa Bear is ready for a nice long sleep but as soon as he realizes his cub is missing, he sets out on an adventure as well. They meet at the opera house where baby bear has something special to show him. They share in a delightful treat together and enjoy their time with one another. Chaud does a wonderful job with his illustrations and I love the color palette he uses and the details in his design. Each page is like a look-and-find and my clever 10 y.o. son identified some elements from his previous books in some of the pages (for example the lop bunny and boy from Farewell Floppy. =)

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A joy to read multiple times in a row with my toddler.

We borrowed this from the library and have been delighted by the pictures and the story. My 2 year old asks for “Bear Song” everyday, and we read it through three or four times at each sitting.

The illustrations are so rich and detailed that we can sit with each page for a while. We play “find Little Bear” on each page as well.

It’s a delightful story, and a beautifully crafted book. When our library loan expires we will be buying a copy for ourselves!

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The detailed illustrations in this book are amazing! There is so much to see on each page, and I'm sure readers will spot something new each time they read it. The story is very cute and should get some chuckles out of kids. Since the illustrations are so detailed, and the book is kind of an awkward size, this wouldn't be great for storytime. But if kids can get right up close to see the pages, this book should keep them entertained for a long while.

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

the illustrations in this book are amazing, they are engaging and complex, making the story truly come to life in the pictures. Children would love to listen and look at the pictures of this book. The story is simple yet engaging, as a papa bear looks to find baby bear. The book is very much like a search and finds as you read you can look around and try to find the baby bear in the pictures with papa bear.

[Orion Novinbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

I both liked and disliked this book's illustrations. It reminds me of the old iSpy books that you had to find objects in the pages based on the words at the bottom, typically a rhyme. However, this book doesn't have any guidance to look for other objects than the baby bear and if you don't catch the illustrations you won't understand the language of the next page(s). I think this is a book made for individual reading time, not for book sharing or read alouds, which is also valid.

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wonderfully illustrated picture book for ages five and up has you follow Papa Bear, who must find his cub! A buzzing bee has caught the eye of Little Bear, who wishes to find some delicious honey. Papa Bear must travel into the big city to hopefully catch his adventurous cub. Chaud’s illustrations are delightfully detailed as Papa Bear goes from the forest to the crowded city streets, which can lead to your child looking for Little Bear, the buzzing bee, and Papa Bear within the pages.

[Liza]

Hi, everyone!
I'm working for a Russian website Papmambook.ru dedicated to children's books and children's reading. We've been building the English version of the website. Recently we've published Benjamin Chaud's interview where he talks about his books, his love of reading, and his work process.

[Shay Rundell · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this adorable and sweet picture book, I found myself laughing out loud as I read about Little Bear chasing a bee and Papa Bear searching all over for him; through the woods, in the city, into an opera house. The illustrations are so detailed, interactive, and they immerse the reader in the book. It's the cute version of Where's Waldo! I can see children having a blast looking in the illustrations for Little Bear on each page, as well as loving the silly way Papa Bear sings to the crowd!

[Cátia Jesus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um livro mesmo fofinho em que se pretende que o leitor encontre as personagens no meio de tanta confusão.
No entanto, em algumas páginas torna-se difícil por estas serem tão preenchidas e cheias de cor. Torna-se difícil concentrar em tanta informação ao mesmo tempo . O que não retira de todo a beleza do livro. Apenas é um livro para ler com mais atenção e cuidado. Uma forma de nos abstrairmos totalmente do mundo.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baby Bear takes off on an adventure chasing a bee rather than hibernating. Papa Bear looks for him and catches up to him in the Opera House. Papa sings the bear lullaby and chases the humans away. He and Baby Bear head for the roof and settle in there to enjoy the view.
Readers will enjoy looking for Papa and Baby on each page.
Elaborate illustrations are fun to search for all the details.