Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear

Title: Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear
Author: Audrey and Don Wood
Illustrator: Don Wood
Publisher and date of publication: The Blue Sky Press 2002
Genre: Picture Book
Age: K-2

Merry Christmas, Big Hungary Bear is a story about a little mouse who has lots of presents under his tree for Christmas. He is told not to forget about the bear that lives in that cave, which never gets presents. At first the little mouse wants to keeps all his presents but soon has a change of heart decides to share them with the bear. The mouse carries the presents up to the cave and before he left to return home he noticed that there was a gift for him from the bear.

The main aspect of this story is sharing. I really enjoyed the story live. It was simple yet very much to the point. The colorful and vibrant illustrations captured every moment of the little mouse and his journey to the cave. What I loved most about the illustrations were that they were very detailed in all the little spots but the overall picture never looked crowded or overdone. The images caught every important aspect of the story and even showed the emotions that the little mouse was going through when trying to decided what he should do. I think that this book offer great potential because sharing is a issue that we as teachers have to deal with with all children. I think that I could use this book and ignore the Christmas aspect of it because we don't want kids to think that they only have to share at Christmas time. However I would think that that is when most children want to share the least. So, emphasizing sharing around the holidays to all people even the ones you might be afraid of (like the bear) has a really good lesson as well. I would like to see more stories of the mouse and his journey's, I think they would be great.

I would use this book to discuss the issue of sharing. Sharing with friends, family and the ones who have nothing to share back. I think it is important to point out to children that they may get something in return but it might not always be a present. Sometimes if they share they might get a hug, something good might happen to them and things like that. I think that this could really allow me to talk about all avenues of sharing and not just share the blocks with Tom and things of that sort. So, read it and use it is a great story that all your students will love.