Little Bear's Visit

Little Bear #4

by Else Holmelund Minarik, Maurice Sendak (Illustrator)

"An endearing story filled with tenderness, humor, and warm family relationships." (Booklist) Little Bear likes to visit Grandmother and Grandfather Bear. He likes to try on Grandfather’s hat. He likes Grandmother’s cooking. But best of all, he loves the stories his grandparents tell him, of robins and goblins, and of Mother Bear when she was little. This Caldecott Honor winner is among the beloved classic Little Bear books from Else Holmelund Minarik and Maurice Sendak. The first, Little Bear , launched the I Can Read early reader series in 1957. In the Little Bear stories, we meet Little Bear, whose adventures are filled with humor and joy. And we 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. An ALA Notable Children's Book, this Level One I Can Read is full of warm and lovingly playful stories that are perfect for children learning to sound out words and sentences. Whether shared at home or in a classroom, the short sentences, familiar words, and simple concepts of Level One books support success for children eager to start reading on their own.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Fiction, Animals, Classics, Family, Juvenile

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Sonja Rosa Lisa ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Der kleine Bär freut sich, seine Großeltern besuchen zu können. Oma und Opa Bär erzählen immer so schöne Geschichten!
Dieses Kinderbuch hat mir sehr gut gefallen. Die Geschichte vom kleinen Bären ist zuckersüß und zauberhaft und dabei wunderbar illustriert. Die Farben sind eher gedeckt, nicht knallig, was einen ganz eigenen Charme hat. Ich mag das Buch gerade deshalb, weil es sich von den "modernen" Kinderbüchern abhebt.
Ideal für Erstleser und auch zum Vorlesen gut geeignet!

[Calista · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is something so special about this book for me, I'm not sure exactly what it is. I love the art. It is so precious and it highlights the bond between grandparent and grandchild. This book took me back to my childhood with my grandparents.

The story is about the simple joys of being with your grandparents who are different than your parents. It was so lovely. I haven't read this and it now has a special place in my heart. Maurice did a great job on the art and Else has a wonderful story.

The kids both enjoyed this story too. Not like me, but even my niece read it. Good stuff.

[Zoë]

[Book #29 for my grad school Children's Lit class]

[Katja Labonté · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.70 stars (4/10 hearts). Okay but this book is just SWEET. Little Bear and his grandparents are darling. Grandfather Bear & Grandmother Bear are the perfect old couple and remind me of my great-grandparents. I ADORE Grandmother’s green dress & apron (and Mother Bear’s dress, too!!) and the house is lovely… and I love the old-timey setting… and the goblin story is so funny and cute, and the robin story is delightful… Yeah, this is probably my favourite Little Bear story collection. :)

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little Bear spends some time with his grandparents in this fourth early-reader from author Else Holmelund Minarik and illustrator Maurice Sendak, enjoying everything about his visit, from the games he plays to the stories he hears. In Grandmother and Grandfather Bear, the first of four brief stories or chapters, he devours Grandmother Bear's delicious treats, and wears Grandfather Bear out with his play. Mother Bear's Robin features a story within a story, as Little Bear asks for and listens to a tale from his own mother's girlhood, when she briefly adopted a lost Robin. Goblin Story is another story within a story, this time related by Grandfather Bear, who spins the spooky tale of a little goblin who finds himself pursued by...something. Finally, Not Tired sees our little ursine hero waiting for his parents to come pick him up after his visit, insisting - even as he is falling asleep - that he is not tired.

I loved all five of the Little Bear books as a young girl, but Little Bear's Visit was a particular favorite! With a text that captures all the warmth of family love - Grandmother and Grandfather Bear are affectionate and wise, clearly understanding their Little Bear's needs and desires - and beautifully expressive artwork that is truly deserving of the Caldecott Honor it received, this is a truly brilliant little book. Rereading it as an adult, I was struck by some of the details - Little Bear informing his grandfather that he had been warned not to tire him out, and being told in return that Grandfathers don't get tired; Grandmother Bear and Little Bear complimenting one another on their skipping skills; Grandfather Bear telling Little Bear that it is OK to hold his paw while listening to a frightening story, because he (Grandfather) might be frightened - that make this story so rich, despite its textual simplicity.

Little Bear's Visit is, together with its companion volumes, one of the truly great contributions to children's literature - one I highly recommended to all young beginning readers, as well as to fans of Maurice Sendak's artwork.

[June · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son has been coughing, so I told him we'd have the children's hour here at home instead of taking his cold among two dozen other local preschoolers. I read several books, played with him a bit (built a train track, my favorite play, thanks, Ikea, for your wooden track sets) and served a stack.

This was the first of the books he chose for the story hour, and a book I love, too.

Every little bear should have such delightful grandparents.

[Saskia Wong-Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the first book I ever read and finished. Little Bear's Visit is a wonderful story about a bear visiting his grandparents. Little Bear uses his curiosity to learn about all of his grandparents old artifacts. Little Bears is told a story from is Grandmother, a wonderful story about adventure and care for others. This book is a wonderful simple read and is perfect for a stroll down memory lane.

[Natalia Pinto Gatica · Rating 5 out of 5]

La visita de Osito es un libro clásico de la literatura infantil, por lo menos yo lo tuve que leer en segundo básico y siempre esa primera lectura la recuerdo con mucho cariño.


Uno de mis placeres culpable son la lectura de libros infantiles y otro son los osos; de muy pequeña he amado estos animales, así que imagínense cuantos peluches de Osos tengo jajajaja.


Bueno, por ende, también colecciono libros de estos animales que me parecen tan tiernos, pero a la vez tan salvajes.


Luego de esta pequeña introducción personal, vamos a lo que nos convoca. Este libro titulado “La visita de Osito” nos cuenta la historia de un pequeño Osito que va de visita a la casa de sus abuelos, a el le encanta ir y regalonear con ellos, ya que le cuentan cuentos, le preparan una rica comida y lo llenan de abrazos y besos.


Osito es un pequeño muy inteligente, educado, y con un corazón muy bondadoso, que ama a su familia y quiere pasar tiempo con ellos. Por otro lado, los abuelos son muy felices cuando su nieto los va a ver ya que disfrutan de su juventud y sus travesuras.


Sus abuelos le cuentan historias de su madre cuando era pequeña y les dejan una pequeña enseñanza para que el piense sobe ello y se convierta en un buen oso.


Claramente es una historia hermosa que les enseña a los más pequeños a valorar, a cuidar y a pasar tiempo con sus seres queridos, sobre todo con estas personas tan maravillosas que son los abuelos. A pesar de que este libro fue publicado por primera vez en 1960 creo que tiene unas pautas de crianza totalmente vigentes, pero que claramente ya no se suelen utilizan con frecuencia. Son pocos los padres que inculcan a sus hijos/as que respeten, cuiden y acompañen a sus abuelos y creo que una manera de poder enseñarles es a través de este tipo de lecturas que vienen acompañadas con ilustraciones que ayudan a los niños/as a imaginar lo que leen.


En fin, a pesar de que sea una lectura infantil, creo que es necesario que los adultos también aprovechemos de disfrutar estos libros que nos dejan bellas enseñanzas que posteriormente podemos trasmitir a los más pequeños.


Lectura imprescindible que nos lleva a reflexionar acerca de la familia, el amor y el valor de las cosas.

[Marybeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good taste of nostalgia to end the year! 🥰

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best of the three story collections in here! Little Bear visited his grandparents and had a wonderful time listening to stories and playing with his grandparents! No wonder Sendak won a Caldecott Honors award for this book! The illustrations and text are gentle with humorous touches scattered throughout!

[Madison Godfrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a young boy named little Bear. He visits his grandmother and grandfather house for their cooking. This is a series about little bears adventures. This is a good book to have in a classroom because there are a lot of them and children can relate to them, these are good for practicing reading. I absolutely loved the Little Bear books when I was growing up. There was something about Little Bear that was very homely and nurturing. I think because most of the books are about him finding his way through growing up and figuring out how to do things right after you've made a mistake or done something wrong. These are very important books because they are all about lesson learning and what you can take away from it all.

[Stefanie Burns · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beginning reader that has good use of white space and spacing between words to support beginning readers. The illustrations clearly match the words. The book is 64 pages long, but pages vary between a lot and a little text. Children will be impressed they read such a long book. The book is a little dated, yet I still have students requesting Little Bear books.

[Honore · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a Grandparent looking to buy a present for a new reader, this is the book! If you haven't guessed who Little Bear is visiting, it's his Grandparents! The dual illustrations of him sitting on each of their laps as he says, " Do you know what? I like it here", had me mesmerized. Sendak had a really talent for capturing the essence of children and the little nuances of their movements, so the way his eyes tip up at them as he hugs them totally sent my heart. Loved it (but then again, I seem to love all of Sendak's works)!

[Kaye]

Caldecott Honor Book 1962

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable, of course !

[Corinne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book of all time, it contains stories within stories of my heart and soul. Thank you for writing it so that me and my son could love it together. ♥️🤙

[Elaine Reyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Que ternura de libro, entiendo como se vuelve clásico de la literatura infantil.

Muero, muero por compartirlo con Victoria

[Glasdow Teacosy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume in the Little Bear series is perhaps the most dear, the most nostalgic, and the most dull. By this I mean it wasn't nearly as creative for me as the other volumes. It was full of charm, but not as clever. However, that's only comparitively. It is still an excellent book and a favorite of mine.

The first story was filled with traditional grandparent-style behavior with Grandfather Bear being the comic relief. The second story about Little Bear's mother and her bird was sweet, but a bit saccharine for me. As a child, I remember skipping over it. That may be because I found the story tedious, but it was more likely I was racing ahead to "Goblin Story", the only imaginitive & fanciful tale in the book. The last story is sure to bring a chorus of "Aww"s to most readers, as Little Bear fights sleep because he's not really tired.

Certainly, there were moments that stood out for me. The illustration skill was quite remarkable. Unlike the other books in the series, there were no lavish backgrounds and settings. There was just page after page of sumptuously rendered, Victorian outfits, as well as animated faces that made the bears more human than some people I've worked with. Grandfather doing a jig was a highlight for me as a child and an adult. Also, I still enjoy the mock look of worry on the Grandfather's face just before he begins to regale Little Bear with goblin story. The color palette was still limited to three spot colors (Brown, black & green), despite the wonderful rainbow available to printers in 1961. This limited palette, along with Sendak's gorgeous hatchwork, helped the story feel very old-fashioned. As a child, I felt these books were ancient, despite them being only a few years older than me.

Overall, Little Bear's Visit is a charming collection of tales very well suited for bedtime. It might be a bit mundane for my expectations, but I know that all my daughters enjoyed the book, so perhaps my opinion is in the minority. Besides, cynical, gruff Daddies weren't Minarik & Sendak's intended audience.

[Ashley Steele]

This book is about a bear named "little bear" and he goes to spend the day with his grandparents. He got to look around the house and explore. He was excited to spend time with his grandfather but after being awake for a while, grandfather feel asleep. Little bear didnt want to wake grandfather so, he went outside to visit with his grandmother. She told him a story about a bird that turned out to be one her life long friends. Grandfather woke up after the story, then he told Little bear a silly story about a gnome and his shoes. Momma and Papa Bear came to pick up Little bear and on the way out the door little bear had so much fun that he feel asleep!

I thought this book was really cute! I really enjoyed the two extra stories inside that Little Bears grandparents told him. The pictures in the book are dated but they are very easy to describe the characters and very descriptive. I would recommend this book to a third grader.

[Madison Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sendak is the illustrator in this novel, and the illustrations are all at the top of the page. There is limited use of color, and hand drawn illustrations that are very realistic with lots of expression matching the text. This book is about a loveable little bear that goes on many adventures, with his grandmother bear helping him along the way. Little bear visits his grandmother and grandfather house for their cooking, and learns all about their history and old artifacts. Little bear is very curious, and has much to learn about his grandmother and grandfather during this story. This book would be a great book in the classroom because most children can relate to the lessons and situations that little bear gets himself into. Another reason why this book would be great in a classroom because little bear learns lots of lessons from the mistakes he makes, and can teach young children those same lessons.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the Little Bear books I had never really heard about until I noticed it on the list for this challenge. Interestingly, based on my memory of other books in the series, including Little Bear itself, this one is quite different. It seems much more old-fashioned than the other titles, and somewhat more disconnected. Most of the other books focus on Little Bear’s own adventures, but this one delves more into his grandparents’ stories about his mother when she was a girl, and an entirely made-up story about a goblin. Naturally, Sendak excels at depicting the world of a goblin, but in this book he is also surprisingly adept at normal, nearly human facial expressions, which so richly depict the tone and humor of each bear in the family. This isn’t my favorite of the Little Bear books, textually, but its illustrations are definitely something special.

[Drew Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little Bear loves visiting his grandparents. He enjoys Grandmother Bear's cooking and looks forward to Grandfather Bear's antics and stories, but he never tires out even after a long and interesting visit.

I've known and enjoyed Little Bear since I was a tot, and it's nice that The Boy (2.5) is quite taken with his stories -- maybe a little bit too taken with them, based on requests for rapidly repeated readings. There are some kind of odd things about this world that Little Bear inhabits (why do the grownup bears dress in such period finery while LB runs about in naught but fur?), but the illustrations are charming and nostalgic and it just sort of works. We're definitely going to have to introduce some other Little Bear selections to avoid fatigue for this one.

[Crista Goluch · Rating 3 out of 5]

1962 Caldecott Honor Book
This is a Caldecott winning book that is formatted as a chapter book. Here the illustrator uses what looks like pencil drawings that he then highlights certain parts with colored pencils. The size of the illustration varies from a single image to a detailed two page spread that encompasses three quarters of the space. He brings continuity to the illustrations by adding a subtle, yet decorative, border around each page. The outlines in the gutter get lost, but with the details of the border’s corners, you don’t notice it. One interesting aspect of the illustrations, that my daughter noticed, is that Little Bear has no clothes and the adults around him do.

[Jen Kahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful starter for children who are beginning to read chapter books. A Caldecott Honor Book, it is about a Little Bear visiting his grandparents. When his grandfather falls asleep after a day of fun, Little Bear sits with his grandmother to hear a story about his mother (which is the next chapter, and it's a nice story). When his grandfather awakes, he tells Little Bear a story as well (the next chapter). Then Little Bear falls asleep while waiting for his parents to come. This story is cute, simple, but in my opinion, would keep a child's interest. The illustrations are very neutral in color, kind of nostalgic. I would definitely put this in my classroom collection.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book, I liked the interaction between little bear and grandfather and grandmother bear, it made me smile, because they did all the sorts of things that grandparents do. The pictures for this book were really quite sweet, even if it does strike you a little odd that the bears are dressed up in old-fashioned clothes and wearing spectacles. I'd recommend this book.

*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2008...

[Friend of Pixie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son has a very close relationship with this grandparents and I think he loved seeing that same kind of love between Little Bear and his grandparents. As with the first Little Bear book, I find the adult bears really funny and I love Minarik's realistic dialog. Because my son was only 3 when we first read this, and easily scared, I had to be careful how I read the story that Little Bear's grandfather tells him. But after he heard it several times and knew that everything was going to work out fine, he loved having a suspenseful little shiver over it in the safety of my lap.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Synopsis: "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."

My Review: Okay so I know I said the last book was the best in the series but I need to amend that and say this was the best in the series. I loved that Grandmother Bear and Grandfather Bear played along with Little Bear and made everything fun during his visit. As it should be when visiting grandparents. I think Munchkin is really going to enjoy this story.

[Maria Rowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

• 1962 Caldecott Honor Book •

This is such a cozy, sweet little book! I love the story of the little bear visiting his grandparents, and the drawings by Maurice Sendak are great as usual. The coloring is a little weird - it’s brown and really bright green and the texture looks like crayon which is so strange - I think I would have preferred this with no color at all instead. But the story is really adorable, and I’d highly recommend this one! Very cute, and I’m happy I ran across it.

Materials used: unlisted
Typeface used: unlisted

[Luann · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a sweet little story about Little Bear's visit to his grandparents. I especially liked the story his grandfather told him about the goblin. I'm not sure why this book won a Caldecott Honor, though. Maybe I'm just so used to Sendak's illustrations that I don't see anything extraordinary in them. One interesting thing is that the grandparents (who are also bears) are wearing clothes, while Little Bear isn't.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect book to share with a 5-going-on-6 year old. The dedication reads "To all Grandparents and all Grandchildren." but even parents might enjoy this one. One story is titled "Mother Bear's Robin." I told Brenna that the Robin reminded me of her Daddy, and the Robin's child reminded me of her. "Read the next story," Brenna replied. See, we both enjoyed this one! The illustrations by Maurice Sendak are great, too.