Today is a double holiday! Reach out and hug those you love—and maybe some you do not—because today is Hug Holiday Day! Today is also Camera Day. So while you are hugging that someone, have a friend grab a camera, or camera-phone, and click away! I don’t have a camera story or a story about hugging, but I do have a TALL TALE, perfect for reluctant readers.

Mom, There’s a Bear at the Door
Written by Sabine Lipan
Illustrated by Manuela Olten
Eerdmans BYR   2/01/2016
978-0-8028-5460-5
32 pages   Ages 4—8

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“There’s a bear at the door? But what is he doing here in the middle of the city? And how did he get ll the way from his cave in the forest to n eleventh-floor apartment?” [back cover]

Review
Humor runs thick in Mom, There’s a Bear at the Door. Told completely in dialogue between a young boy and his mother, Mom, There’s a Bear at the Door explains how a brown bear travels from the forest to the eleventh-floor of the boy’s apartment complex, and why the bear came there in the first place. It is a tall tale, that’s true, but one kids will love.

The young boy looks out his apartment door and sees a brown bear on the floor. How did he get there? Well, that is a great question and one the boy’s mother (in red), certainly will ask.

“Mom, there’s a bear at the door!
“A bear?”
“A bear.”
“How did the bear get up here?”
“He took the elevator.”
“He took the elevator?”
“The elevator.”

Back-and-forth, the two determine how the bear travels to the city, up to the eleventh floor, and why a bear would do this in the first place. Why would a bear need to go to the eleventh floor?

“And what does the bear want, here on our eleventh floor?”
“To look at the sea.”
“At the sea?”
“At the sea.”
“And how will he look at it from here?”
“Through the window. How else?”

The young boy has the answers for his disbelieving mom. The text sounds like an old-fashioned comedy routine between a comic and his pawn. The bear must think he is sneaky, but one little girl, lollipop in hand, catches him early on and follows him through the city. Watch everyone’s expressive eyes for added delight. The acrylic paint and colored pencil illustrations enhance the story making it difficult to not believe. The evidence is right before your eyes! How can you not believe when you see the brown bear on the eleventh floor, see it squeeze into the elevator, ride a bike, and find his way to the subway all in an effort to look at the sea—from the middle of a landlocked city. What’s not to believe?

I really like this silly story. Mom, There’s a Bear at the Door employs the young boy’s imagination as he figures out why and how the bear got outside his door. Mom plays along, though skeptically. Together, they make up a story that will be fun for parent and child, two children, or any two people to read together, like a script, one sentence at a time. They will have fun exchanging the goofy, hard-to-believe-yet-true text. Everyone will have a great time, with lots of giggles.

Translated from its original German—mysteriously losing the end-of-title apostrophe—Mom, There’s a Bear at the Door will help kids learn to read by having them read aloud with an adult or another child. When it is fun, it seems to be easier. Reading aloud (which is not a requirement, of course), will help build confidence in the kids who read this with mom, dad, or a friend. Whether you read mom’s sentences or the young boy’s, reading Mom, There’s a Bear at the Door is a fun and funny experience. Perfect for the reluctant reader.

MOM, THERE’S A BEAR AT THE DOOR. Text copyright © 2016 by Sabine Lipan. Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Manuela Olten. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Eerdmans BYR, Grand Rapids, MI.

Amazon—Indie Books—Eerdmans BYR

Find Mom, There’s a Bear at the Door on Goodreads HERE.

Sabine Lipan:  http://www.sabine-lipan.de/
Follow on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/SabineLipan/

Manuela Olten:  short biography
Follow on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/manuela-olten-8924b657

Eerdmans Books for Young Readers:  http://www.eerdmans.com/YoungReaders/
Follow on Twitter          @ebyrbooks

Originally published in Germany in 2014 by Tulipan Verlag GmbH under the title, Mama, da steht ein Bär vor der Tür!

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Reprinted with permission from MOM, THERE’S A BEAR AT THE DOOR © 2016 by Sabine Lipan, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, Illustrations © 2016 by Manuela Olten.

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Copyright © 2016 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved

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Mom, There’s a Bear at the Door
Written by Sabine Lipan
Illustrated by Manuela Olten
Eerdmans BYR 2/01/2016
9780802854605

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