Copy me, Copycub

Copycub

by Richard Edwards

Through spring, summer, and autumn, through streams, swamps, and up and down trees, a mother bear and her cub play an important game of follow the leader. "You're my own little Copycub!" mother bear exclaims. Little does the cub know that each time he imitates his mom, he's learning precious life lessons. When winter suddenly arrives, the bears must make their way to the cozy cave to sleep until springtime. It's a long, hard journey, and as the snow blows into Copycub's eyes and ice fringes his fur, all he wants to do is lie down and sleep. How will his mother convince him to take just a few more steps?

Richard Edwards's simple, gentle text is heartwarming and inspiring. All the rich details of nature and the tender interactions between mother bear and cub are made real in Susan Winter's soft watercolor illustrations.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Family, Storytime, Nature, Juvenile

24 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Richard Edwards was born in Tonbridge, Kent, and has since lived in Italy, France and Spain. He is an acclaimed writer for children and has written over 20 picture books and books of poetry for children. He divides his time between Edinburgh and Barcelona.

Reviews

[Yasmin Marsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to love reading this as a bedtime story to my little sister when she was younger.

It’s a beautiful story of a mother bear and her child, Copycub, who learns everything by copying his mother as they go through the seasons.

A lovely picture to share with children which could provoke discussion about the seasons, learning and copying.

[Kimberley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a baby cub who is copying everything that the mother cub is doing as they are making their way to their den for the winter and as they are doing this they are ging through the seasons. Therefore this book is ideal for teaching reception children about the seasons as it has pictures demonstrating the changes within each season and how they follow on from one another. With this the sprirng shows green and growth, summer shows bees out with more animals around, autumn the leaves are turning from green to brown and winter they show the snow and the characters mention some of the other changes that are going to happen aswell. This could lead onto an sequencing of the seasons by recalling the order and then putting them into a cirle so that they can see that it is cyclical and there may not neecessarily have a start and end to it. Moreover they can (as a sorting activity) have pictures that they need to group within a particular season.

This book also identifies a bears yearly cycle whereby they travel to eat, eat as much as they can and then they hibernate during the winter period and we could promote discussion from thsi by comparing it to a humans.

[Karen GoatKeeper · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mother bear and her cub venture out one spring. As the days pass, the cub copies everything his mother does and so learns about being a bear. His last test is to follow her back to their winter den through the cold snow tempting him to lie down and go to sleep.
The illustrations are soft watercolors. They give a cozy feel to the story.

[Adriana Palencia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the story was a little dull, but it was still a cute yet simple story for children. The cub copies everything the mom does. The mother was very sweet and wasn’t bothered by the fact that the cub was copying her every move.

[Kary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book to read when teaching about hibernation

[Patrycja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sympatyczna historia z pięknymi ilustracjami. Młodsze dzieci zachwycone. Bardzo przyjemnie się czyta, takim niespiesznym tempem. Super pozycja.

[Norkett · Rating 4 out of 5]

The bears are adorable! The story takes you thru the seasons along with their hibernation venture.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bear cub does everything his mother bear does, and as the seasons change, and the cub continues to copy his mother's every move, and learns to survive.

[Victoria Tromboukis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story for students with their mothers.

[The Transmuted Tree · Rating 3 out of 5]

2nd that day

[Aleya Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be a good book to read to preschool or kindergarten children. I thought it was a very sweet story, that shows children about hibernation as well. The pictures in the book were very large, which would be good for reading to a younger group of children so that everyone is able to see the pictures. The story was short and simple which I also think was good because it makes it easy for young children to understand.

[Jenna · Rating 1 out of 5]

At first, I thought this story was about being a copy cat, but it is really about a momma bear showing her cub how to do tasks. She is teaching it to grow and learn, which could be related to a teacher and his/her students.

[The Styling Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Copy Me, Copycub by Richard Edwards, illustrated by Susan Winter - quite a cute picture book following the life of a cub learning life by copying his mom. A winter book my son grabbed off the library shelf, quite glad he selected it!

[Tia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, especially the simple, cozy illustrations by Susan Winters. My little boy wants to read it again, and has inspired me to paint a bear for him. I love this little story!

[D Nine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bedtime story.

[Ashlyn Barker-Salyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book about a momma and her cub. Slightly teaches children about when hibernation occurs. I might use this book to talk about the setting.

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similar to Little Bear/Big Bear stories. My six year old picked it out himself at the library.

[Cecile · Rating 3 out of 5]

A disobedient cub who would surely be eaten by a scavenger or predator in the real wild.

[Kay Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

The kids like it. I think it is kind of boring.