Big Bear and Little Bear Go Fishing
by Amy Hest; illus. by Erin Stead
Preschool, Primary    Porter/Holiday    40 pp.
5/24    9780823449750    $18.99

Big Bear and Little Bear enjoy a summer idyll. It starts with a joyous declaration from Big Bear—“I’m just in the mood for fishing”—that just encapsulates a child’s immersive enthusiasm. The two bears get dressed, find their poles, bake blueberry scones (of course; as Big Bear observes, “Fishermen need nice, warm blueberry scones”), and pack a storybook. These preparations traverse several beautifully orchestrated page-turns, each new necessity building listeners’ anticipation. Big Bear’s warm confidence coaxes Little Bear past some apprehension at the dock; in the boat at last, they “dip their poles” and wait, nibbling scones and reading stories until a fish finally appears, then swims away, leaving Big Bear and Little Bear to retreat contentedly to their hammock. Stead’s delicate pencil and watercolor paintings depict beguiling details—Big Bear’s bunny slippers, the honeybees on the wallpaper, the echinacea in bloom—without ever distracting from the total delight these bears have in each other. In their gently hairy bulk and the tender tilts of their heads, they recall Sendak’s Little Bear and his mother. The text is equally gentle in its phrasing. Dialogue is set in italics rather than enclosed in quotation marks; pre-readers may not notice, but the unusual typographical choice will draw the attention of adults and older children to the warm, brown letters and the creamy negative space. It’s hard to imagine a nicer day than this.

From the May/June 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.