Maybe a Bear Ate It!

by Robie H. Harris, Michael Emberley

"It's gone! It's nowhere! I can't find it anywhere...

Where is MY BOOK? I need MY BOOK "

What happens when your favorite book goes missing? Bestselling duo Robie H. Harris and Michael Emberley climb into the mind of a young child and create a hilarious picture book romp. As the frantic search for the beloved book takes off all sorts of horrifying thoughts come to mind and the imagination goes wild.

Genres: Picture Books, Storytime, Childrens, Animals, Humor, Fiction, Books About Books

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Robie H. Harris has written many award-winning books for children of all ages, including the definitive Family Library about sexuality: IT'S PERFECTLY NORMAL, IT'S SO AMAZING!, and IT'S NOT THE STORK! She lives in Massachusetts.

Reviews

[(NS) Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's Gone! It's nowhere! I can't find it anywhere! Where-is-my book? I need my book! A catlike creature finds his book missing from his comfy bed. His active imagination takes over: "Maybe a bear ate it!" "A stegosaurus stomped on it", "A rhino ran away with it", "A bat flew up high in the sky with it", "A shark swallowed it", and even, "An elephant fell asleep on it". No matter what our young friend does, he cannot locate the book—until he finds it underneath his bed. Children will love the story line, and the complimenting illustrations . This story is guaranteed to bring hours of pleasure to bedtime reading sessions.

Young readers from preschool through kindergarten will be delighted to engage in this charming story.

[Lizzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this to toddlers at Storytime. The beginning starts out wordless so I just made a lot of sounds of pretend reading, thinking and getting sleepy. The kids animated all those sounds along with me which was a riot.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty darn cute, I gotta say. Not much to it, but what little there is happens to be a-dor-able.

[Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cat-like creature loses his book (it fell off his bed) and his imagination runs wild with the possibilities of what could've happened to it. It's simple and straight-forward, but my daughter absolutely loves it and has even had me read it to her three times in a row (despite having a short stack of books we checked out from the library from the same visit). I would've liked there to have been someone —a friend or parent— acting as a voice of reason. Then his possibilities could've escalated in silliness/outlandishness and the friend or parent's increasing frustration with the boy's ridiculousness would've made it that much funnier (although, admittedly, my daughter already laughs quite a bit).

I'd probably give it four stars, but since it's a kids' book and mine apparently can't get enough of it, I'm awarding it a bonus star.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young animal is curled up in bed, enjoying a book, but his bed becomes crowded with stuffed animals, and he grows sleepy. With all the stuff on the bed and the tangled bed coverings, he loses his book. (Yes, I know--that really does call for some hysteria! I've lost a lot of things in my time but never a book, thank goodness.) After pitching a fit about its loss, he begins pondering some possibilities for its whereabouts. They're pretty ridiculous, and eventually, the book is located, right where he left it. This book is a good title for helping youngsters develop early literacy skills, including comprehension, memory, and using their imagination.

[Margaret Boling · Rating 4 out of 5]

9/14/2018 ~ Oh no! A (library) book is missing and must be found before the main character can go to sleep! I had so much fun reading this with my Kindergarten and first graders! They felt so smart, and yelled repeatedly at the character that the book was...well, you'll need to find your own readers to spot the book. It was especially interesting to see different groups discover that all the disasters the character imagined were related to the stuffed animals they (gender unclear?) had taken too bed.

I tied this in to our library orientation - if a book is missing, it's important to look everywhere!

(Adult readers will LOVE the dryer - that's where all our missing socks are!)

[Leeanna Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe A Bear Ate It! is all about the main character losing his favorite book. He searches and searches and searches for it but he just can't seem to find. With it being gone, he assumes that it is gone forever, using the idea that maybe a bear ate it.

I really enjoyed the book. Growing up, I fell asleep reading quite often, so I definitely related to how panicked he probably felt. It started off as a wordless book, which was interesting to me because I have never read wordless books unless I was in class.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little creature (who looks an awful lot like a monster to me) falls asleep one night reading his beloved book. When he wakes up in the morning the book is nowhere to be found and he's devastated. He imagines the worst (e.g. a bear ate it, a stegosaurus stomped on it, etc.)! The first few pages are wordless so just make some "hmm" and "ahh" reading noises if you're reading this one aloud to a group. Since the reader can see the book throughout the entire thing, this makes a fun read aloud as the kid try and tell the monster where to find his book. Great illustrations and lots of fun!

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two of the funniest stories came from my love of this book. 1. I lost my copy of this book and had the same thoughts as to what happened to it like the main character (thanks to the book itself), and found it like how the MC did. 2. When I lost the book, my mom was so glad that she had it memorized by then because reading this to little me was the only way to get me to sleep. Definitely my favorite book from my childhood.

[Tania Henriques · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book follows a character who loses their book and thinks up a bunch of crazy ideas! For example, they think a shark swallowed their book, or an elephant fell asleep on it, but the book ended up being under their bed the whole time! In the end, they are happy they found their book and fall fast asleep after reading it.

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great example of our first reactions when we lose things, especially important things like our favorite books! Although I thought the kid was pretty tame, he didn't wreck anything whilst frantically searching. :)

No content issues.

[Colorado Buck · Rating 3 out of 5]

was not that impressed. the kid looses his book under his blanket and rips the house apart looking for it, then finds it later on. losing things / finding things? animals in here that may have taken it too.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

When a young lad loses his favorite bedtime story book, he imagines that various animals has done something to it, starting with a bear who may have ate it. He searches high and low for his book with startling results.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

My children absolutely adore this book. Reading literature is so important to the development of a child's mind, and I cannot think of thing I would rather do then sit down to read to them in the evenings. Imagination and growth are so vital in those so young.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming story about a kid who loses his book and goes looking for it. Light on words, good pictures, lots of opportunities to ask for observations and predictions. Models a love of reading. Likely a good storytime option.

[Lauri Meyers · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little creature loses his favorite bedtime book and begins to imagine what may have happened to it. A stegosaurus stomped on it? A bear ate it? An elephant fell asleep on it? Then he finds it under his bed, right where he dropped it. Fun to read aloud.

[Joci Laws · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was vey short and did not include a lot of words. There were a lot of pages that only had pictures. I think that this book would be entertaining for younger kids as the illustrations are fun.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very cute toddler and up book about an animal who has lost his favorite bedtime book and dreams of all the animals that could have done something with it before he sets out to find it himself.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little guy loses his book and goes through a bunch of scenarios of what might have happened to it.

[Elizabeth Moreau Nicolai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for a yes/no/maybe storytime. Worked fairly well. Some wordless pages to talk through, but the kids loved the silliness and giggled a lot.

[Jc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where is my favorite book? I cannot find it anywhere? Maybe a bear ate it?

[June · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book about a book lover who loses a book in bed and thinks about what could of happened to it (see title) then goes to look for it.

[Milton Louie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The little boy imagines how he lost his book. B

[Marissa Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun inventive story that would be great for students to model a writing project after.

Six+1: Ideas

Guided Reading: G
Lexile: AD230

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember as a kid coming up with, what now I call, worst case scenarios. That's this story. My 6-year-old could relate as I read it to him. He loses things quite often.

[Ashlin Edmisten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, simple, and engaging. Relatable for all.

[SB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book that reminds kids to LOOK for things. :)

[Erica Flory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorable

[Haley Kilgour · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute book about losing a book.

[Alexis Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book to my 7 year old cousin, he thought it was hilarious. The illustrations are super fun & it’s an easy read for younger kids.