Funny "costume party comedy of errors" story, centering around a baby bear waking up from hibernation, and stumbling upon a Purim costume party. While trying to nap off the feast, the other party-goers wake up the baby bear, who gets a bit growly before running off back to his cave. [return][return]I'm a bit growly myself, because for a holiday celebrating a woman, this book's active characters are almost all male -- including the baby bear protagonist and the little boy who recognizes the bear as a for-real bear and not a costume-bear. Upon discussion, we decided to re-gender the characters, and it was fine. ( )

Cute story about a bear cub who wakes up during his winter hibernation and finds himself at a Purim costume party, where he is mistaken for someone in costume by everyone but a child. There is a note about Purim. I recommend reading Eric A. Kimmel's the Chanukah Guest for Chanukah and then this for Purim. ( )

Awakened from his long winter slumber, Little Bear finds that he is hungry, and follows his nose to a little house by the river, where he sees gaily clad people arriving for a feast. Tempted by all the delicious smells, he joins the crowd, accepted as one of the guests, who are all in costume. Only young Itzik perceives that Little Bear is not Bela the tailor, Peshel the pickle-seller, or Heshel the herring man, dressed up as a bear, but a real wild animal, in their midst...

The Mystery Bear is the sort of Purim book I was thinking of a while back, when I mentioned that I was looking for good storybooks set during the holiday, but not necessarily about the holiday. But although it fits the bill, somehow it never really grabbed my attention, either visually or textually. Leone Adelson's narrative left me indifferent - there was nothing I particularly liked or disliked about it - and Naomi Howland's gouache illustrations, although cute, also felt a little flat. This is probably more of a 2.5-star book, but I rounded up... ( )

Funny "costume party comedy of errors" story, centering around a baby bear waking up from hibernation, and stumbling upon a Purim costume party. While trying to nap off the feast, the other party-goers wake up the baby bear, who gets a bit growly before running off back to his cave.

I'm a bit growly myself, because for a holiday celebrating a woman, this book's active characters are almost all male -- including the baby bear protagonist and the little boy who recognizes the bear as a for-real bear and not a costume-bear. Upon discussion, we decided to re-gender the characters, and it was fine. ( )

A young bear is mistaken for a costumed reveler when he wakes up from his winter sleep and follows the wonderful smells coming from a cottage where the townspeople are celebrating Purim. ( )