Baby Bear Eats the Night

PreS-Gr 2—When night's shadows grow, the sounds of branches snapping and wildlife scurrying frighten Baby Bear. He can't sleep, so he devises a plan to rid the night of its darkness. He climbs up a tall tree to cut a line into the sky with his claws. He grabs the flap his cut has made and pulls it to the ground like a large, dark, star-adorned ribbon. With that, he begins to gobble it up. However, the animals and insects of the forest remind him of the night's usefulness. Field mice need its cover to hide from bigger predators. Fireflies shine their light to be seen and to talk to other fireflies. Bats can only see in the dark. Baby Bear is unmoved until Mama Bear helps him realize that the dark also keeps bears safe from hunters. With a little help from his animal friends, the cub puts the night and the stars and clouds back into their proper place. Looking at the twinkling stars above, he knows that "the night can be a bear's friend, too." Leick has rendered the drawings in watercolor and colored pencil with the bears' faces more human than animal-like. However, with a predominance of earth tones and deep blues, she has presented a peaceful backdrop for this story. Overall, a decently written effort, but one that should be considered a supplemental purchase.—Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CA