kids books about classic bears

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Do you have a favorite bear character from childhood? There are so many good ones.  My favorite as a kid was my Teddy Ruxpin doll.  Do you remember Teddy Ruxpin?  He was so cute, and he could "read" stories to me.  I rewound that cassette tape that he came with over and over again. It was great!

Here are our picks for the best books with classic bear characters.  

We're Going on a Bear Hunt (Classic Board Books)

By Helen Oxenbury, Michael Rosen

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Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

By Bill Martin Jr., Eric Carle

Buy on Amazon

The Complete Tales of Winnie-The-Pooh

By A. A. Milne

Buy on Amazon

A Bear Called Paddington

By Michael Bond

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Corduroy

By Don Freeman

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Little Bear (An I Can Read Book)

By Elsa Holmelund Minarik, Maurice Sendak

Buy on Amazon

12 kids books about the letter B

Balls, bears, boats, ballerinas, and bicycles!  So many great "b" words to read about and learn about.  If kids in your house are learning about the letter "B", here are twelve great books to give inspiration to their lesson. This post contains affiliated links that I receive compensation for posting.  However, I only share books and products that I love on my own.  Thanks for supporting businesses that support this blog. 

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

By Bill Martin Jr., Eric Carle

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We all know and love Eric Carle, and his colorful Brown Bear, Brown Bear book is great for letter recognition because it has a nice repetition that brings lots of opportunities to find the letter B as you read. 

The Berenstain Bears: Kindness Counts (Berenstain Bears/Living Lights)

By Jan Berenstain, Mike Berenstain

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The Berenstain Bears books are always reliable when you want a book that teaches a kids a life lesson, and The Berenstain Bears Kindness Counts is no exception.  Brother Bear learns that good things come to those who share with others.  He shares his prized airplane at the park even when he feels nervous about letting someone else touch it.  He ends up making a kind new friend because of his good choice.  

How Many Bugs in a Box?: A Pop-up Counting Book (David Carter's Bugs)

By David A. Carter

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This pop-up book has everything!  The letter B, counting, lift-the-flaps with cute little bugs that will get a laugh from kids.  

Richard Scarry's Boats (Richard Scarry's Busy World)

By Richard Scarry

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We love how Richard Scarry's books are so detailed with tons and tons of vehicles to find and name.  This book is all about boats of different shapes and sizes with different jobs to do.  

Bear Wants More

By Karma Wilson

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Have you read any of the books in this series for preschoolers?  If you click on the Amazon link, you will see that the Bear books have tons and tons of positive reviews from readers.  They are simple, well-illustrated, and kids just love them.  In Bear Wants More, Bear wakes up from his winter sleep in the Spring, and he is hungry!  He needs lots and lots of food to fill his big bear belly.  

We're Going on a Bear Hunt (Classic Board Books)

By Helen Oxenbury, Michael Rosen

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A dad and his kids are going on a bear hunt in this bouncy, jolly classic.  The rhyming words perfectly match the happy family's adventure into the woods. 

A Bear and His Boy

By Sean Bryan

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This bear and this boy are best friends who do everything together, but there's just one problem.  The bear has a crazy to do list that is a million miles long, and he drags the boy all over town.  The boy got stressed out!  In the end, he teaches the bear to slow down, relax, and enjoy life. 

Scholastic Reader Level 1: A Bug, a Bear, and a Boy

By David Mcphail

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Three friends - a bug, a bear, and a boy - spend their days together playing games, planting a garden, and eating yummy food.  Use this book for learning the letter B with preschoolers now, and keep it for later, when you need an easy-reader for elementary schoolers. 

Busy Boats (Amazing Machines)

By Tony Mitton, Ant Parker

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Author Tony Mitton is an award winning children's poet, and his story about animal critters sailing on different types of boats is filled with rhyming fun. 

The Berenstains' B Book (Bright & Early Books(R))

By Stan Berenstain, Jan Berenstain

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Do you find that some of the Berenstain Bears books are just a tad too lengthy for younger, preschool readers?  I have to confess that I do too.  This is the solution - a collection of Berenstain bears bright and early books.  This one is all about - you guessed it - the letter b. 

I'm a Ballerina! (Little Golden Book)

By Sue Fliess

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Author Sue Fliess is a preschooler-mastermind!  She knows just what will engage readers ages 3-5.  In her book I'm A Ballerina, a little girl takes the reader into her ballet class and show us what its like to perform her dance on stage! 

Ballerina Bess

By Dorothy Jane Mills

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A great learn-to-read book about Bess taking her first Ballet lesson.  Dorothy Jane Mills is a fantastic resource for kids just learning to read.  She has written so many great easy-reading books. 

little cloud by eric carle

My sons love looking up at the clouds and trying to decide what shapes they can see in them.  Once, when I picked him up from school, I asked my third grader what he did at recess that day, and he told me that he sat alone all recess.  I was concerned until he told me the reason - because the clouds were so beautiful that day, and he just had to watch them.  An unusual way to spend recess, but a quite poetic one, nonetheless. 

I wasn't familiar with this sweet little book by Eric Carle until recently, but I'm so glad I found it.  A little cloud drifts alone and has fun changing itself into all different shapes - animals, airplanes, a clown with a fancy hat.  At the end of the story, the little cloud joins its family and brings rain to the town below.  

This has the classic Carle art work and simple yet engaging words.  It's perfect for toddlers and preschoolers! 

Story Time Conversations:

• What are clouds made of?  What do they look like they are made of?
• What was your favorite shape that the cloud made?
• Pretend to be a cloud.  Drift by high in the air.  Now make a thunderstorm and rain! 

the color wheel with classic eric carle! hello, red fox by eric carle

You just can't go wrong with an Eric Carle book!  The man is in the kid's lit canon for a reason.  His stories hit the right mark with young readers in his language, pacing, and subject matter.  His artwork is always colorful and engaging with his now iconic collage style and broad paint strokes.  This story, Hello, Red Fox, is one that I have been less familiar with compared to his more popular books like Brown Bear, Brown Bear (a must must must for any new home library!) or The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but I'm glad I picked it up recently because it is a great introductory lesson on the color wheel.    

The story is based on the color theory developed by a German novelist/poet/scientist during the 1800s, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  An anecdote on the inside cover of Hello, Red Fox tells the story of how Goethe was sitting in a cafe one day staring at the striking contrast a waitress's red dress made against the white wall behind her (sure, Goethe, that's what you were staring at. wink.) When the waitress moved, he kept his gaze on the white wall, and he was amazed that he could still see a faint outline of her dress on the wall but instead of being red, it was green! Repeated experiences like this (how many waitresses' dresses was this guy staring at?) caused Goethe to spend his entire life studying color, and he created the color wheel that we still use today.  

Hello, Red Fox tests the same color experiment while telling a fun story about Frog inviting his friends over for his birthday party.  When each of his friends arrive, Frog's mother is surprised to find that they are all the wrong colors.  Red Fox is green.  Orange Cat is blue.  What's going on?  Frog tells his mom that she is just not looking at them long enough, and Frog's mom and readers test Goethe's theory by staring at each animal followed by a blank white page.  If done correctly, looking at the blank page will transfer the stared-at image in the opposite color on the color wheel.  It was fun for all of us to try this even though I'll admit it was hard to get it to work especially for my three year old.  You have to stare at the picture for a full ten seconds, and well, he doesn't stay still for a full ten seconds of anything!