Wordsmith Wednesday: Father Bear Comes Home

As you have probably noticed, we read a lot of children's books around here :o). Even before Owen, I read lots of them, but now we read more than ever. I especially love reading books to him that I also enjoyed as a child. Recently, he requested the mermaid book from the library. Upon further probing, I figured out that he wanted Father Bear Comes Home (Else Holmelund Minkarik). While we were at the library, we also got A Kiss For Little Bear, Little Bear's Visit, and Little Bear's Friend, and we already own Little Bear.
I remember having these read to me as a little girl and reading them independently a little later. I particularly liked Father Bear Comes Home because my Dad worked away on the ocean like Father Bear. Although I never thought he might bring home a mermaid like Little Bear hopes, we were all convinced at some point in childhood that our father was a pirate.

Father Bear Comes Home includes four loosely related chapters. Little Bear goes with Owl to catch a fish for Mother Bear to cook for dinner because Father Bear is away on the ocean; they pretend to get a few exotic catches before Mother Bear comes along to collect the real fish. When Little Bear's father is coming home, he hopes that Father Bear will bring back a mermaid; Hen, Duck, Cat, and Little Bear are all disappointed that Father Bear does not bring home a real mermaid. At home with his parents and friends, Little Bear gets hiccups, and everyone tries to cure him with folk ways - drinking water, patting his back, holding breath, and scaring him. Little Bear's family and Owl go on a picnic by the river, and he and Owl look for a real mermaid.

I like the simple story lines and Little Bear who is a curious, imaginative, sweet, and independent child. Owen loves to repeat the stories and to act them out. He likes for us to play Little Bear and Mother Bear. We both enjoy the illustrations which are done by Maurice Sendak, authour and illustrator of one of Where the Wild Things Are.