The Bear's Winter House

by Quentin Blake, Quentin Blake (Illustrator)

The bear's plans go awry in this welcome paperback reissue of Quentin Blake's first full-color picture book, perfect for talking about sharing and the seasons The bear is behaving very strangely collecting moss, logs, and branches to build a winter house. The other animals think this is silly, and laugh at him, but when winter comes, bear is cozy in his house while the other animals suffer in the cold. Being a very kind bear, he invites the others in; but unfortunately for the bear, they are too excited to sleep-it seems he will get no rest at all this winter. But when spring arrives, he finds a solution.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Science, Childrens

24 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Sir Quentin Saxby Blake is an English cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and children's writer. He has illustrated over 300 books, including 18 written by Roald Dahl, which are among his most popular works. For his lasting contribution as a children's illustrator he won the biennial international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002, the highest recognition available to creators of children's books. From 1999 to 2001, he was the inaugural British Children's Laureate. He is a patron of the Association of Illustrators.

Reviews

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

And the hedgehog, who usually rolls himself up in a ball among the leaves in winter, was unhappy at the foot of the tall tree. Although he had curled himself up into a tight ball, the damp leaves would not stick to him because the gale swept them all away.

We do like all things illustrated by Quentin Blake and when there is a hedgehog involved it's a no-brainer that it will be coming home with us.

It turns out we already had this in an older edition, with a different cover design, but I somehow managed to delete my review of that one whilst trying to switch to this edition to review, having read it again. The changes in how you log reading a different edition of a previously read book is both complicated and clearly troublesome!

This is a quaint little children's story about the animals of the forest. When Bear decides to build himself a house for winter the other animals scoff. However, they soon realise that Bear's house is the far better option on a cold winter's day!

3 1/2 stars.

[Ella · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice book about a friendly bear who helps out the other animals in the cold winter. The book is nice however I expected the other animals to realise how kind bear was and feel bad for causing him all the trouble but they never do. The book also might confuse children about what hibernation is as none of the animals actually hibernate and pigs and chickens wouldn’t anyway. There would be good opportunities for children to consider the different characters feelings at different stages of the book.

[Erin]

A story that talks about the value of hard work and planning. The bear demonstrates kindness and empathy on the one hand and the pig, hen, and hedgehog show how inconsiderate behavior can make even a generous person rethink their offer.

A dash of the Little Red Hen, plus some additional opportunities for conversation about what we owe to each other.

[Sabrina Wannet · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved reading it.

[KD · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most beautiful illustrations

[Mrs Heet -Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

An adorable story of how bear wants to build a warmer winter home, and how his woodland creature friends react.

[Camila · Rating 3 out of 5]

The other animals don't understand why the bear is building a winter house. The animals invite themselves over when the house is finished but all the bear wants to do is sleep! This book is cute and can be used in science to teach seasons and hibernation! It can also be used to teach about nouns! Many nouns are mentioned in the book like the bear, pig, branches...etc.)

[Pamela Beckford · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a nice little story. Bear is gracious and allows his forest friends to join him even though they refused to help him build his winter house. But then he has enough - but not enough sleep. Illustrations were simple and the story was good

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Bear is preparing for winter and wants a warm winter house. The other animals scoff at his preparations and then ultimately they want to spend the winter with him. They are not very good guests. Good story about the importance of preparation.

[Kamyshia]

this is a great selection when introducing hibernation and the preparation of winter.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for a lesson on animals preparing for winter. Good for getting kids to predict why they have to prepare like that for winter.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is good for introducing how some animals get ready for winter--hibernation and what that entails.

[Michaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great way to integrate literature into a science lesson. Could use before introducing the topic of hibernation. Students can learn how the bear prepares for the winter.

[Michelle Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite illustrators and the kids I read this too thought the overall plot was really funny,

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very precious. The colors were very fall-like and vibrant, but not loud. It complimented the text well.
It seems that the colors shifted a bit as a season changed.
I loved the story and especially the end.