The Bears We Know

by Brenda Silsbe, Vlasta Van Kampen (Illustrator)

Does anyone really know the bears next door? Every neighborhood has its black sheep... but this one has bears. Well, nobody has actually seen the inhabitants of the house at the end of the road, but that doesn't stop the gossip about The Bears We Know . In colorfully mischievous illustrations, readers are invited to see for themselves these ursine neighbors living life as they see fit. They sleep late every day, and their house is a mess. They eat bagfuls of chips, and they jump on the furniture. They sing songs that make them cry, and they stay up way too late. Also, they growl if anyone gets too close, so nobody visits. But you don't need to visit to know all about these bears... right? Originally published as a mini-book, The Bears We Know is back in a full-sized format with new illustrations that highlight the hijinks of these unsavory neighbors. This playful story promises to charm even as it challenges with the question "Does anybody really know their next-door neighbors?"

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1989

Reviews

[Melki]

There's no plot here - only speculation and hearsay about a family of bears who live in a house at the end of the road. Apparently they are slobs with bad habits who have a whole lot of fun doing not much of anything. For all of that, the outside of their house seems to be well maintained, and the lawn is kept mowed.

I'd definitely prefer these bears to some of my neighbors.

[Dawn]

This might be a good friendship story. We could talk about how we need to get to know people rather than make assumptions.

I think we all actually wish we were the bears. However, the narrator seems to be like an old grandma clucking her tongue and shaking her head at these bad neighbors...and she doesn't even know them.

I'm not sure how I feel about this book.

http://ihaveabookyoushouldread.blogsp...

[Lynn Davidson]

I like this story with its subtle lesson and the wonderful illustrations.
The story is about a family of bears that no one ever sees but somehow, the narrator explains, everyone “knows” all about the way they are and how they live. This is an insight into gossip, speculations, prejudice, and generalizations. The illustrations are very entertaining.

[Hailey Hushak]

This silly book is a mystery about bears that live in an empty house down the street. The unique thing about this particular story is that no one has ever seen the bears but there are all kinds of stories about them and what they do everyday. The grade level is from preschool or kindergarten.

[Marissa Musso]

I gave this book 2 stars becasue i didnt think it was much of a mystery book... I think that although it started out like a mystery it did not continue very earie or sppoky like i think a mystery should be. Can not say that i am a big fan of this book at all... dissappointed.

[Adrianne Rosal]

Cute read.

[Eddie Garcia]

this is a silly book on three bears and their wild daily routines

[hughatkin]

So so childen's book where the bears smoke cigars. And most of the sentences start with "And," "Because," or "So." Because bears don't grammar.

[Alice]

I don't know how to feel about this book. The pictures are nice, but this book is more than a story. It is about bears that live down the street but no one has ever seen them...so the narrators makes a lot of inferences...that may or may not be true!

I think the point of the story is about gossip and making up stories about people (or bears) that you know nothing about. They bears, are dirty, lazy etc, but we've never seen them or met them so...how do we know??? "We have never seen the bears, bu we know they are there. And we know what they do??" Can you make inferences about people based on their house.

The front yard is messy so they must be Hispanic, they have lots of cars in the driveway they must be African Americas, their lawn is always well manicured so they must be Asians...right..all hasty generalization, the first house the family could be Caucasian, the second house could be Caucasian and the last one might be Hispanic. Who is to know unless you KNOW you neighbor.. So I think this is important for kids to know, but on a deeper level, it might be a little too deep. At first I took it a face value that they bears are what they are ....until I read another review and then I was thinking "that makes more sense" not sure kids will get it but still an important lesson!

[Kathleen Garber]

I got this book for review from Annick Press. The idea behind it is to show how much people sometimes make up about people they don't know. No one's ever SEEN the Bears but they (the narrators) know all about who they are and what they do. I think the idea was to introduce children to the mistaken belief that we can possibly know who people are and what they do without having met them or gotten to know them well. However I don't think it quite worked as well as it should have.

The beginning, after describing the house, goes like this:

"We have never seen the bears, but we know they are there. And we know what they do."

and at the end it goes like this:

"People ask us how we know so much about the bears when we've never seen them. Well... some things you just know."

The rest of the book is the narrators (whom we never learn anything about nor see but sounds like the voice of a child) explanation of the bears and what they look like and what they do. Things like sleeping late, getting old furniture from the dump, eating potato chips, singing, making a mess etc.... Not once does anyone suggest that these assumptions may be false. I think we're supposed to figure that out for ourselves, but I don't believe a child 4-7 would get it.

[Dolly]

A fairly odd story about ill-mannered and slovenly bears with poor diets who live down the street. You never actually see them, but you know all about them. Strange, but entertaining and it is a good story to start a discussion about healthy eating habits, good manners and being neat and orderly. Fun illustrations. Our girls enjoyed watching this book read aloud on the "Tumblebooks" online audiobook site (tumblebooks.com).

[Lauren]

I believe this book had an underlining theme about rumors. The books talks about 3 bears who sleep all day, make big messes, are loud and stay up all night. Though no one ever sees the bears, the author "just knows" that these stories are true.

[Robin Raines-Bond]

The pictures are really cute. The story is fun. It is about Bears that are the narrator's neighbors, but the neighbor has only hear the bears, but never seen them, so you don't know if what he/she is telling you is really accurate.

[Beth]

No one really knows what the bears do in their home.

[Jo]

This is a reprint of an Annickin Mini from the 1980s. Not as good as the original..they took out the wine.

[Angela Nelson]

This book was about sloppy bears that ate bad food and stayed up late. Im not sure if there was a lesson in it. I would not use this in a classroom.

[Theresa]

The bears we know by Brenda Silsbe is about what do the bears do we know... a list of strange and happy things the bears do though we've never seen them

[Samantha]

Samantha