Watch our for those fish, Old Bear!

Children in EK, PK and CPG read Old Bear by Kevin Henkes this week. When the reader meets Old Bear he is settling into his winter hibernation. Henkes takes the reader through the four seasons using the bear's hibernation dreams as his vehicle. The fantasy/dream illustrations were especially appealing to the kids. I was intrigued by the children's interpretations that the dream cub feared the fish. The bear is depicted clinging to a tree and looking over his shoulder at the fish in the river. He, obviously, is stationary and the fish are moving in his direction. The fish all have their heads out of the water and appear to be looking at the bear. The bear's mouth is hidden by his shoulder, leaving the reader to put his or her own spin on the bear's emotional state. The kids are seeing the bear as victim and the fish as aggressors, which I find fascinating.

CPG Responses (added in on Friday, October 16, 2009)

Aidan C.: He's sleeping in a croke [crocus]. When he was sleeping then he woke up and he ate honey.

Ryan: I like where he was eating the blueberries because it has to be rain. I see a little bit of rain. He ate blueberries from the ground. I see blueberries that he ate. He's like, "Oh! It's raining blueberries. I'm going to eat them because I like them!" I see a flower up in the sky. I think it's a cloud flower. And he said, "Hey! I want that bear!" This page was red, orange and brown. And the bear's climbing the tree because he doesn't want to get catched by the fish and aten by the fish and to bite him on his bum. He'd go, "Owwww!"

Brady: He is eating the blueberries because he's eating blueberries and the flowers are coming back. He is climbing on a tree because the fish is trying to get him. It's my favorite. And winter is coming because the snow is coming back and it's cold. And the sun is on still. And in winter he sleeps and sleeps. And it comes back [spring] and no snow comes.

Olivia:  He's sleeping in the flower. [Turns to front end papers and points.] The brown end papers. [Flips to back end papers.] I want to see the purple.

Alec: He dreamed about berries. It's raining berries. He's putting them in his mouth.

J.J.: I liked it when he was dreaming that he was in a giant crocus. I liked it when it was raining blueberries, too, and he was catching them. I liked it because he sees the rainbow fish and he might jump in and eat one. He might catch one right in his claws.

Aiden R.:  He was sleeping. He was sleeping in the flower. It's raining blueberries. He's sticking his tongue out. He's trying to eat the blueberries. He's trying to climb up that tree because he's trying to find some food. I think he's trying to look for some doodleberries. They're purple.

Aria:  He's dreaming that it was summer. He's sleeping, sleeping a lot. He's eating the blueberries in the clouds. I think the fish going to eat him. He's going to get away from the fish. [Flips to winter dream scene.] I like this part. I like this white part -- it's snow. I like snowflakes. I like to stick my tongue out to get them. My hands get cold in the snow. My dog's only scared of bears. Maggie have sharp teeth.

Maeve: I like the sleeping. I liked it when he sleeped in the flower. I liked when he ate blueberries in the waterfall. He's trying to get the fish. He's going to fall into the water.

Linsdey: He's sleeping. He's in the tree.


EK Responses

Allison: It was snowing. The bear was dreaming. There he's in the flower. It's raining blueberries. I like blueberries.

Leah: He slept through winter. He wished that he was a little bear. He dreamed of the raining was blueberries. And he wished that everything was orange and yellow. And he like to climb up trees. Bears are very good climbers up trees. They sleep through winter and when they wake up in the morning they walk around and think, "Oh! This is summer!"

Brooke N.: They sleep in the winter. He's sleeping in the flower and he wish he was a little bear.

Brady: He dreamed. He was dreaming that he was a cub again. It rained blueberries. He was a polite bear 'cause he covered his mouth when he yawned.

Annalee: I like that one [illustration] because I like snow. He's sleeping in a flower. It's raining blueberries. He's trying to eat them.

Sophie: I liked when the cub was sleeping in the flower. It was so cute! And he was eating blueberries out of the sky. And the sun was a daisy! It was so funny! And I like the colors of the fish and the bear thinks the fish are trying to eat him because look it!  He [dream cub] just hopped [onto the tree]!

John:  I liked that there were raining blueberries in the sky. And I like when at the last part when it was spring again and it was very nice and stuff because some of the trees had leaves that were going down. And I liked it when he's just smelling everything. And I like when he blinked and sticked his head out. That's all.

Arthur [Talked mainly about his own personal bears, placing them right in the story.]: My bears are hibernating. One is Heavy Bear, but it's not the one I'm talking about. I call my black one Black Bear. I really like this bear [Old Bear] because both of all my bears at home are hibernating. And all mine animals are sleeping in flowers and trees. That's what their first dream that they dreamed about. Then they dreamed that blueberries were raining. And then they dreamed about all the fish were out and all my bears could catch the fish. And then they dreamed about it was snowing. Then they slept. And then they yawned and then they opened their eyes and then it was walking and then it dreamed about purple was everywhere. And then they dreamed about there was flowers everywhere. That's all I want to tell you about.

Hayden: I like that one. Winter and fall is come together and he make a lovely pillow in his den. He thinking of dreams and the winter blowing the leaves in his den. He think he is sleeping in the big flower and he pretends it's spring. Then he think a rain is blueberries and he going to eat them all up and he get a tummyache. Butterflies are going to find a lovely place and they're going to get blueberry juice all over them. And he's going to think of a fish dream. The bear is afraid to go in the water because he don't want to be eaten up by the fish. He's climbing the tree 'cause he wanna be safe. He think of dreams and he sitting in the snow and he really wants to catch snowflakes on his tongue. And he thinking of he really love the sun in his eyes. He making a big yawn because he wake up so nice and early in his den. And when he wakes up he didn't remember anything anymore.

Brooke B.: I liked it when he was dreaming that he was a cub and it was spring. I liked it when Old Bear was dreaming that it was raining blueberries. I liked it when he was dreaming that it was fall again and the fish were rainbow colored. I liked it when he was dreaming that it was winter again. I liked it when he was dreaming when it was winter and he said the stars were all colored. I liked it when he woke up and it was spring again.

Dev: I like the front part. Snow and leafs are falling down on him.

Daniel: It was silly when it rained blueberries! The bear was that big [referring to the dream cub sleeping in a crocus] and if a person stepped on it it would be squashed into maple syrup. That would be funny. I like that yellow fish a lot. If I was that big and the bear was really that big and I didn't see it I would probably step on it. Imagine a bear eating it's own head! [Comment made while viewing an illustration consisting of 4 different views of the sleeping bear's head.] It would be funny. This [back]end paper's purple and this [front] end paper's brown.

Keegan: I like this page. I like the fact that the flowers are beautiful. And that looks some kind of like a dandelion. And it's weird.  He's sleeping in a plant. It's weird. It's raining blueberries.

Bella:  I like when he was winter and it was all the color in the sky. I like all the colors on this page, like the green and the yellow. Like the grass is green over here. I like the purple and the yellow and the big crocus he was sleeping in. Note: When we discovered that Bella's dress was almost a perfect match for Old Bears' back end papers, we just had to take a picture for the blog.

PK Responses

Christel:  I liked all the blueberries and I liked the sun. It was pretty funny. The butterflies were my favorite animal. And I loved the bear inside the flower. I liked the little stars and the snow all over the trees. And I think he was watching the sun go down.

Brady L.: A bear was dreaming about he was a little cub. And he was dreaming about snow and the rain was blueberries. And all the leaves changed and the fish turned colors. And the stars turned colors.  And then he yawned and then he waked up. And then he opened his eyes. And then he was going look for food. [Old Bear was actually a gift from Brady L. last year! Thanks again, Brady L.]

Camryn:  He's falling asleep. He's dreaming, too. I love that page when he was a little cub! It's so cute. He's sleeping in a little flower, and he's so funny. I love that. It was raining blueberries! He was freaking out! Everything was orange and brown and every color. Yellow. There was stars and snow.

Acadia:  I like those a lot [colorful stars] because it matches my green and purple leaves on my dress. [Flips to illustration in which Old Bear awakens in spring.] He blinked and blinked and blinked.

Emelyn: I like him yawning and putting his paw on his mouth. That's what I do when I wake up. [Flips to an illustration with the dream cub sleeping in a crocus. Points to the cub and laughs.] Bear in a flower!!

Eva:  He was dreaming he was a little cub sleeping in a flower. I like the blueberries because he wished he was a tiny cub licking the blueberries and eating them. The fish are swimming around the ocean and he was climbing the tree. He was funny!

Summer: He's sleeping in a flower. They're raining blueberries. The fish are colored.

Kaitlyn: He was digging a lot. He was soft sleeping. And then he was dreaming about flowers and being a cub. It was raining blueberries. And he was dreaming the sun being a sunflower. And the leaves were butterflies. And then he was dreaming about the colors and like about rainbows. He doesn't go out of his house. And he sleeped and sleeped and sleeped and sleeped. And then he yawned and yawned. And he woke up. And then  it was real. His dream was real. And he's walking away to get food. He went out the book on the front. [Illustration on the dedication page depicts the back half of Old Bear. He looks like he's walking out of the book.]

Mikayla: He was sleeping in a flower. Then it was raining blueberries. He stick his tongue out. He's going to catch the blueberries. He's gonna eat it. Fishies going to get that little bear. I'm not afraid of fishies. I got a Super Hero cape. [Flips to another illustration.] It's a winter day. Bears don't run in the snow. They just sit there. He put his paw on his mouth because he's tired. Then he sticked his head out. It was a rainy day.

Emmett:  He's sleeping right now. He keeps sleeping then he sleeps in the flower. And it's raining blueberries. He's trying to get them in his mouth.

Katherine and Mack are still not feeling well and did not attend school this week. Feel better, girls!