We’Re Going On A Bear Hunt

Follow a tiny turtle's life cycle with this fun, informative picture book,
part of the new Nature Storybooks series.
We're going on a bear hunt! Through the long wavy grass, the thick oozy mud
and the swirling, whirling snowstorm - will we find a bear today? Children will
love joining in with the animated version of this adventurous tale from the
acclaimed King Rollo Films - accompanied by specially composed music and
narrated by Emilia Fox and Kevin Whatley - and following all the action in the
classic picture book, which won the Smarties Book Prize and was Highly
Commended for the Kate Greenaway Medal.

Pick one of the most treasured contemporary children's tales, listen to a
dramatic reading accompanied by music and sound effects, and get ready for a
whole new story experience! This compelling CD pack offers a full hour of
story-inspired interactive fun, including:

- participatory games
- scenes to act out
- learning songs, rhythms, and movements
- suggestions for simple crafts

Ideal for both individuals and groups - at home, on a long car ride, in a
classroom, or at a party - this entertaining and educational recording will
energize children's imaginations time and again and leave an indelible
impression of the story it celebrates.

Publishers Weekly
A father and his four children--a toddler, a preschool boy and two older
girls--go on the traditional bear hunt based on the old camp chant: ``We're
going to catch a big one. / What a beautiful day! / We're not scared. / Oh-oh!
Grass! / Long, wavy grass. / We can't go over it. / We can't go under it. / Oh,
no! / We've got to go through it!' The family skids down a grassy slope,
swishes across a river, sludges through mud and, of course, finally sees the
bear, who chases them all back to their home. It's a fantastic journey--was it
real or imagined?--with the family's actions (and interaction) adding to the
trip a goodnatured, jolly mood. The design of the oversized volume alternates
black-and-white drawings with gorgeous full-color watercolor paintings, which
Oxenbury uses to wonderful effect. Readers accustomed to her board books will
find a different style here, of puddled colors and sweeps of light and shadow.
The scale of the pictures and the ease with which the text can be shouted aloud
make this ideal for families or groups to share. Ages 4-9. (Sept.)

Joan Kindig, Ph.D. - Children's Literature
There are some books that instantly become favorites with the preschool crowd
and the parents and teachers who work with them. We're Going on a Bear Hunt is
definitely one of them. Publishers sometimes try to find other avenues where
they can market the book and often turn to audio books. A wonderful
alternative, an audio book allows children to listen to the story independently
again and again which helps them to make the speech to print match as reading
begins. This particular audio book format is something of a disappointment,
however. Rather than providing the means for children to revisit the story
independently, the producers of this CD focused on providing the background
noises that one might encounter when going on a bear hunt. For example, there
is the splooch sound of a boot emerging from wet mud, the swish of grass as the
characters walk through the knee-high field, etc. While this is all well and
good, the end product is a CD that is usable only in concert with parent and
child and even then is ineffective. The CD asks the child to 'repeat after me'
but never provides any modeling. There were many such good ideas but they were
not fully developed. A better format would have been a package containing the
book and a CD that offered extensions for learning. That way, parents or
preschool teachers would have a resource to truly go beyond the book. A simple
audio book with accompanying tape would have been sufficient. 2002, Candlewick
Audio, Ages 3 to 5.

Children's Literature
This delightful picture book makes a new appearance as a board book, and it is
wonderful. The same mix of black and white illustrations accompanied by a
rhythmic text, which alternate with full-color spreads full of onomatopoeia,
are still there as the family ventures through fields across streams and
through icy landscapes until they meet up with a bear in its cave. It's a
fantasy adventure that ends with the whole family snuggled under the comforter
in the parents' big bed, and now the board book crowd will get to enjoy the
fun. 1997 (orig.

School Library Journal
PreS-K-- From England comes this refreshing interpretati
Recommended as part of the Building Bridges of Understanding for Infants to
2nd class to support children's use of predicting."