Rainbow Bear

by Bill Martin Jr., Michael Sampson, Nathalie Beauvois (illustrator)

Genres: Picture Books, Storytime, Food, Animals, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

Published October 29, 2024

About the author

Bill Martin, Jr. (1916-2004) was an elementary-school principal, teacher, writer, and poet. His more than 300 books, among them the bestselling classics Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See ; Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear ; Panda Bear Panda Bear What Do You See ; and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom , are a testament to his ability to speak directly to children. Martin held a doctoral degree in early childhood education. Born in Kansas, he worked as an elementary-school principal in Chicago before moving to New York City, where he worked in publishing, developing innovative reading programs for schools. After several years, he devoted himself full-time to writing his children's books. He lived in New York until 1993, when he moved to Texas. He lived in the east Texas woods, near the town of Commerce, until he passed away in 2004.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/billma...

Reviews

[Kelly]

I liked the repetition, but navy? Since when is that a color in the rainbow? What's wrong with saying indigo?

[Julia Pika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Brown Books Kids for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

This will be a fantastic addition to any storytime about colors! The illustrations are adorable, the repetition works well, and it's just overall a very sweet story.

[Miss Janis the Storytime Lady · Rating 3 out of 5]

eh. much better options out there for colors. but, if you need to add one into the rotation, it's not *bad*; it's just not *good*.
on a second read, we did spend some time talking about where the color ends up on Little Bear. still pretty eh, but a little better.

[Shanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gorgeous illustrations reminiscent of Eric Carle, who was a frequent collaborator with Mr. Martin. Bravo to Nathalie Beauvois on those! This book is written by Bill Martin Jr. and his friend Michael Sampson. Little Bear has just woken up from his winter nap. He is very hungry. His mom tells him to go out and eat some berries. Outside, he finds all colors of berries. This book functions as a way for children to learn all about the colors of the rainbow and also learn about how bears are hungry after they hibernate! Cute picture book.

3.5 stars because the phrase “hungry little me” is a little weird after about two pages.

Mia’s Year of Books: Day 257

[Charessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Brown Books Kids for the eGalley to review!

This is a very simple little book to help little ones get acquainted with the colors of the rainbow (and bears, of course). Little Bear wakes up hungry and Mama Bear tells him to go out and eat some purple berries. Well, Little Bear is very hungry and ends up eating a rainbow of different berries. In the messy process, he gets stained by all their juices so he ends up looking like a rainbow bear!

It's cute with lovely, vibrant illustrations and is perfectly written for story time with repeated lines.

[Terresa Wellborn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Endearing story by a beloved picture book master, Bill Martin. This book is about a little bear who wakes up from hibernation very hungry! With the help of his mama, he finds all manner of berries...of all colors! My only complaint is that the refrain isn't my favorite: "Hungry little me!"

Themes: bears
Ages: toddler-K
Pub year: 2024

[Marian Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

08/12/25 Good for a color-themed storytime. The baby bear slowly changes color as he eats different colored berries and he ends up changing from a brown bear cub into a little rainbow bear - adorable! Bizarre that navy berries were included, though - the kids don't know this color and since when is navy a color in the rainbow?

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Age: Toddler-Preschool
Animal: Brown bear
Concept: Colors
Food: Berries

Brown bear is HUNGRY and eats all the berries it can find, getting messy along the way. This would be an excellent felt story for storytime.

[Morgan the Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is reminiscent of Carle's style and will be attractive to readers. It goes through colors well (though the addition of "navy" was kind of strange to me). And the repeating refrain didn't really have a good tune to me. Overall, I liked the art but the writing was pretty underwhelming.

[Diana Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book for storytime at the library -
*Short text
*big, bold words (will be easy to read upside down or from the side)
*large, colorful pictures
*repetitive text

Will include this book in a rainbow/colors storytime next week!

[Leah Reads Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

We returned this book to the library 4 weeks ago and Leah is still repeating one of the lines from the book, "I'm your MESSY bear!"--if that's not the sign of a memorable story, I don't know what is :D

[Steph]

Turn/Level: 1/2.5

Colors of the Rainbow, bears

[Alyssa Gudenburr · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really cute storytime about a little bear that eats a rainbow of colors.

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

concepts- colors

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good spring book for storytime/toddlertime. Introduces the idea of a bear waking up from hibernation and goes through the colours.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars, rounded up. The illustrations are cute, but the text is overly repetitive and not particularly compelling.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely and perfect for toddlers and preschoolers. Great for read alouds and storytime.

[Chrissy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Storytime: Bears, Colors, Food

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little Bear wakes up from hibernation super hungry! His mama tells him to go eat some berries, so he does. He's so hungry he eats all different colors of berries turning himself into a big mess. This is a simple story with illustrations reminiscent of Eric Carle. Kids will laugh at the mess Little Bear gets into and learn their colors at the same time. :)

[Jennifer Miera · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book got a couple of things wrong. In a rainbow, the names of the colors that come after blue are indigo and violet (not navy and purple). Also, when bears wake up from hibernation in the early spring, there are no berries to eat. First to emerge would be flowers and then it takes months to produce edible berries. Berries are available in summer and fall.