Big Bear, Small Mouse
Written by Karma Wilson and
illustrated by Jane Chapman
Margaret K. McElderry Books, Simon
& Schuster, New York, 2016
“Big Bear, Small Mouse,” the latest
in Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman’s Bear series, is a warm, cheerful simple story
of animal friends gathering in Bear’s lair to stay warm and enjoy time together.
Told
in an easy pattern, the story teaches children comparison words, such as big
and small, slow and fast, and low and high.
‘Mouse
hops onto Bear
He
is careful not to fall.
Bear
is big, big BIG!
Mouse
is small, small, small!’
It is a cumulative
narrative, beginning with bear and mouse, and growing as new pairs of animals
join the group. Each pair is described using a pair of opposite adjectives.
‘Bear and Mouse
both wave
to their friends
as they go past.
Badger moseys slowly,
but Hare runs
very fast!
Rhyme is used effectively
in an A-B, C-B pattern with four-line, three-foot stanzas.
Each time a new
pair of animals joins the group, they are added to the list. So, it begins,
‘Small Mouse
big Bear.’
The list grows.
‘Slow Badger, fast Hare.
Small Mouse, big Bear!’
And grows.
‘High Owl, low Wren.
Slow Badger, fast Hare.
Small Mouse, big Bear!’
Until finally,
it is six lines long, with a rhyming pattern of A-A, B-B, C-C.
‘All together, gathered there,
Cold night, warm lair.
Cold night, warm lair.
Quiet woods, loud friends.
High Owl, low Wren.
Slow Badger, fast Hare.
Small Mouse, BIG BEAR!’
The growing list
builds momentum, until the story ends with Bear smiling and clapping, surrounded
by his friends in his lair that is decorated with strings of daisies.
The colorful,
expressive pictures of the animals complement the story, and tell a few new details
of their own. Mouse tickles Bear with a feather, Badger wears a necklace of
daisies, a bird gives Badger another daisy, and Badger shares his necklace with Mole.
One small criticism is
the overuse of exclamation marks, a lazy man’s way of expressing emotion. This
story could have let the words and pictures do that without resorting to them.
About the Author
Karma Wilson is the bestselling author of several picture
books for Simon @ Schuster, including the Bear series and “Where Is Home Little
Pig? Karma lives in Montana.
About the Illustrator
Jane Chapman is an illustrator of over one hundred books for
children, including “Dilly Duckling,” by Claire Freedman and “I Love My Mama”
by Peter Kavanagh, as well as Karma Wilson’s “Bear Snores On,” “Bear Wants
More,” “Bear Stays Up for Christmas,” and “Mortimer’s Christmas Manger.” She
lives with her family in Dorset, England. Visit Jane at ChapmanandWarnes.com.
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