The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear (1984)

Used in Storytime 7/7/2016
Used in Storytime 4/26/18 ( )

We practically wore the cover off of this book we read it so often, it was a long time favorite of my boys, and still is one of mine. In this story the little mouse picks a juicy, red, ripe strawberry, and quickly realize (thanks to the narrator) that big hungry bears love red ripe strawberries and can smell them a mile away, yikes! He goes through a series of funny attempts to hide the strawberry from the bear, and in the end, sharing wins. The illustrations are soft and warm, and perfectly depict little mouses feelings on every page. A sweet and funny story! ( )

One of my favorite childhood books ( )

In this book, a mouse picks a strawberry. The narrator warns the mouse that a big hungry bear is coming to get the strawberry and eventually convinces the mouse to share it with them. The bear never makes an appearance. I love this book and so do my students. I've read it in both english and french (in an immersion classroom setting) and the drama and excitement comes across even when the students don't understand the words. I also find it helps a lot with french vocabulary as the kids are motivated to learn the words to better understand the exciting plot. I also really love this book as an introduction of an unreliable narrator. At the end of the book I always ask, "Where is the bear? Do you think there is a real bear?" ( )

I think this book deserves more honors/reviews/awards than it has. Wonderful, colorful illustrations and a great interactive text. Good for several learning applications. ( )