Tag Archives: Maurice Sendak

A Year in Books/Day 129: Little Bear*

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  • Title: Little Bear
  • Author: Else Holmelund Minarik
  • Illustrations: Maurice Sendak
Little Bear front cover

Little Bear front cover

  • Year Published: 1957 (Harper & Row, Publishers)
  • Year Purchased: 1957, presumably (I think it was purchased for my mom)
  • Source: My sweet Momma
  • About: Little Bear-a collection of four stories revolving around the sweet title character-was one of the first books I read for myself. I was barely three years old, and entirely mesmerized by Sendak’s illustrations. I especially loved his hat in What Will Little Bear Wear? The writing by Minarik is, of course, simplistic to the extreme (exactly what you would expect from something with An I CAN READ Book tag) but that is beside the point: Sendak is the reason I loved Little Bear and his tame adventures (real and imagined) and childish dilemmas. He is the reason the stories are classics. From the moment I opened the book for the first time-before I could read-I was a Sendak fan, lifelong and passionate.
  • Motivation: I read everything I could get my thin, little hands on. This book, it seems, was always there.
  • Times Read: Dozens or hundreds, I have no idea.
  • Random Excerpt/Page 18:
    Little Bear wearing my favourite hat

    Little Bear wearing my favourite hat

    • Happiness Scale: 10++++, with a side of warm fuzzies.
    Little Bear and Mother Bear

    Little Bear and Mother Bear

    *This is dedicated to the memory and brilliant mind of Maurice Sendak, who died today (8 May 2012).