The Bear Went Over the Mountain

Jane Cabrera's Story Time

by Jane Cabrera

What's over the mountain? A little bear and his best friends, of course! Story time darling Jane Cabrera puts a sweet spin on a classic children's song.

The Bear went over the mountain, / To see what he could see. / But all that he could see, / Was the other side of the mountain, / Then he got stuck up a tree! Luckily Hare is there to rescue him, followed by Fox with some tea, Wolf with the dance moves, and Owl with the final piece of the party. But wait, there's one last attendee--a young child!

Cabrera gently reveals that other side of the mountain was just up the stairs the whole time. The final spread shows the youngster all snuggled up in bed with his stuffed animal bear, hare, fox, wolf, and owl.

Jane Cabrera's Story Time celebrates children's best-loved read along nursery rhymes and songs. These interactive favorites are given a new twist by award-winning artist Jane Cabrera and feature her bold, bright, kid-friendly illustrations. Other titles in the series include The Wheels on the Bus , Old Mother Hubbard , and Old MacDonald Had a Farm .

Genres: Picture Books, Storytime, Animals, Music, Childrens, Nature, M M Romance

32 pages, Hardcover

First published November 3, 2020

About the author

Jane Cabrera is best known as an Author and Illustrator of Children's Books.
She has written and illustrated 56 books which have been translated into over 25 languages and won awards in the US and Europe. She lives on the edge of beautiful Dartmoor National Park in the UK.
Her books range from picture story books to concept board books for babies.

FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/janecabrera...

Reviews

[Villa Park Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another most enjoyable and colorful rhyme and sing-along book from author/ illustrator Jane Cabrera. In this beloved nursery rhyme, Bear—along with his other forest friends owl, hare, fox, and wolf—venture out, “over the mountain to see what they could see” before settling in for the night! Truly, this is a joyful classic to read while singing along over and over again.

Jane Cabrera has many other picture books of favorite nursery rhymes and songs you may enjoy as well, including: Row, Row Your Boat, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.

Check this book out from the Villa Park Public Library!

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

My very favourite song to sing as a child. Sometimes I can't handle books that extend songs into a long long story because I get myself into a trap where I try it at storytime and it is ENDLESS, but Cabrera finds a way to make this extended song make sense and it's really cute. I definitely recommend this one for at home reading for toddlers and preschoolers. Especially useful right before bed. Hopefully families can adapt it to the stuffies their child has in their own bed!

[Andréa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 18 month old son enjoyed the pictures. He knows bear, owl, moose, bird, tree, and bunny. He was interested in the wolf and the fox.

[Ellon · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I had never heard this song before! At first, the repetition of lines drove me nuts but then I looked up the song. I still didn’t love the repetition but it grew on me. I loved the ending however! How cute!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for a bear or forest storytime! Sing along and look at the wonderful illustrations, then have your little one guess what the animals will do on the other side of the mountain. Excellent choice for looking at rhyming words, too!

[Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this digital ARC from the publisher through Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review.

As a music teacher, I'm always on the look out for songtales - books that illustrate some of these songs that have been sung for decades (or centuries). I was excited to see this come up, but unfortunately, it didn't do much for me. It includes additional verses which would be cute to read together with a little one, but make it challenging to sing.

[The Library Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love, love, LOVE Jane Cabrera!
Iza Trapani has done a lot of this sort of stuff, extending a classic children's song. But her books don't sing as easily as Cabrera's and her art has less young child appeal. This is a song I sing regularly as an action rhyme, and I may need to buy a reference copy of this, ready for "Novem-bear."

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustrations are amazing and I love the style of them so much. They are adorable and have a wonderful color palette. The story however is not that great because of the repetition. SO. MUCH. REPEITION. I literally skipped reading the repetition lines because I found them so annoying. It does not flow well in my opinion (with the repeated lines). Is this supposed to be a song? I don't even think it works well as a song if it is supposed to be a song...

[Abby Johnson]

A charming song book just like you'd expect from Jane Cabrera. This rendition of The Bear Went Over the Mountain brings in several woodland creatures for different verses and ends with a child creeping up the "mountain" (the stairs) and snuggling with all their stuffed animals in bed. Sweet, great for bedtimes or storytimes.

[Mary Louise Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this song as a child and sang it to my kids and grandkids. While the song ends up with the bear seeing the other side of the mountain, I enjoyed the author's new verses, adding animals to the story.

The first new one sentence verse could have fit the meter of the song better, but this is still a fun new version of the old song. I will certainly look for the author's other song books.

[Molly Cluff (Library!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very charming illustrations of different forest animals going to look for their friends. Presumably, this is supposed to be sung to the titular tune, but I couldn't figure out how some lines of text were supposed to fit with the song. Loved the cozy ending where all the animals are plushies!

[Colorado Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute. it was the song, then all different types of animals kept going over the mountain to see where all the other animals had gone. cute. would use with an older group of kids. for animal storytime or wildlife theme.

[Trisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several animals travel to see what's on the other side of the mountain. As we find each animal we see what they are up to.
This sing song story comes alive with Jane Cabrera's illustrations. I can see a child nodding (or dancing) along while they listen.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I sing this song to Mister so of course, I wanted to read this to him. He wasn't sure what he thought about the changes. He was doing the movements, and then when the other animals came along, his face wrinkled up. "NO. That's not how it goes!" He liked the pictures, but not the change.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Using the song "The bear went over the mountain", this story tells the tale of a bear getting stuck in a tree. His friend Hare rescues him, and then - one by one - others join them. Cute take on the song, and nicely illustrated. Repetition makes this book a fun one for young readers.

[Andrés · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the introduction of all these new forest animals to the otherwise unsatisfying "the other side of the mountain was all that he could see" from the standard nursery rhyme. The stuffies in bed at the end are an adorable ending, and all the illustrations are warm and bright.

[Tricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adapted from the Bear went over the mountain song, story in verse, themes include forest, bedtime, could be cute turned into a flannel/song, beautiful illustrations in Cabrera style.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all of Jane Cabrera's books that are based on children's songs. The illustrations are gorgeous and the books are great to read at story time.

[Rebecca Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

yet another fun and sing-able book perfect for storytime and fans of We're Going on a Bear Hunt!

[Olive]

We love Jane Cabrera's storytime books.

[Ruth]

More of a song than a story (lot of repeating lines) but the illustrations were adorable!

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of singing and cute illustrations.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute book to sing with lots of animals.

Good for preschool and toddler storytime.

[Rose Zoey kindred · Rating 4 out of 5]

Naturally that had to sing. She giggled and pointed at different animals and butterflies.

[Cheryl Gladfelter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun interpretation of the song, with lovely illustrations.

[Mary N · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the books with songs by Jane Cabrera. This one, I could sing it, for storytime.

[Angela De Groot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the illustrations

[Viviana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Art 4-5 stars. Too dern cute

[L.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was cute, as are all Cabrera’s works, but the nature of this rhyme means that the book was a bit repetitive.