Bear Dance

by Jan Wahl, Monique Félix (Illustrator)

A wild bear escapes capture and returns to his beloved home in the mountains, where he enjoys dancing to the sounds of nature.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals

32 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2008

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bear loves to dance. He dances in the woods all the time. One day he is captured and forced into a cage where he is not allowed food until he dances. He ends up escaping from the cruel men that captured him, returning to the wild to finally dance again on his own. This story is a little dark, discussing animal cruelty and is most better suited for upper elementary students to see and discuss.

[Mobley-Carter Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book holds 16 sheets and 32 unnumbered pages. There are not long sentences on each page. The main character's name is Bear. The problem in the story is that Bear's freedom was taken away when he was cuffed, forced into a cage, deprived of food, and forced to dance for food. The solution is that Bear quietly escaped his cage and returned to his natural environment. He broke the cage and pulled off the bells. Most of the pages are covered in illustrations, and sections of pages have words. The setting for this story is outside during the day and night.

[Michele · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated but I wasn't prepared for the sad storyline, had to skip ahead as I was reading it to my grandchildren to ensure that there was a happy ending. The story did provide an opportunity to explain why, as ethical vegans, we do not visit circuses and other venues where animals are used solely for human entertainment.

[Sem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations of tiny, gormless humans (who stepped straight out of a Bruegel painting) and a gigantic bear in durance vile. Not sure why this would be inappropriate for a young audience. The moral compass is formed at an early age.

[Marion · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aside from the nice pictures, I can't wrap my head around what aspect of this book is considered for children. "Bear Dance" by Jan Wahl tells the tale of a bear who loves to dance but is then captured, forced into a cage, and starved unless he dances when instructed to. Thankfully, the bear escapes in the end! While I do love the message about animal cruelty Wahl was trying to get across, I think the way the book went about it was wrong. I understand these topics are not ones to take lightly, but when you try to put them in a kids book you need to know your audience and put them in lighter terms they will understand.

"Bear Dance" is a little too dark and intense for younger children and probably better suited for a much older group of kids. I feel that younger children will just be depressed after reading it and won't even fully understand the message it was trying to convey. All in all, the book was good but left me utterly dumbfounded and depressed.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars I think the pictures are great! The story though a little sad a points was interesting and important to tell.

I think this is a book with an agenda but the agenda isn't heavy handed.

It is so sad when the free bear gets captured and taken to be a performing bear. I believe animals should live free and wild. I like zoos and aquariums and I know those animals don't live in the while, but I hope they are educational and not there to preform. I would also hope they were rescued animals and not taken from their native homes.

[Shanon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up from the library without looking through it. In a nutshell, it's about a bear that is captured, forced to dance for his food and escapes to return home. Too heavy for my 3 1/2 & 1 1/2 year olds to understand.

[Jaime Taggart · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was no great message in this other than mankind likes to trap wild animals and exploit them by making them perform and make them miserable. I did not feel good about reading this one to the kiddies.

[Lauren Iuppa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book very cute but I did not think their was a real message to the story and how kids learn from this book. All I got from the message was bears love to dance but then was forced to dance for food. Its a cute book for children who love animals but I couldn't get the message from it.

[Tina B · Rating 3 out of 5]

bears, dancing, freedom, animal cruelty

[Mckinley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Liked the illustrations but found the story a bit lacking and sad.