Baby Bear’s Chairs by Jane Yolen

One can tell by opening the cover that this book is written for a younger audience. There are bright colors and stylized pictures. The illustrations are painted in water color which gives them a soft warm feeling. The story is told in poem from perspective of a little bear. He begins observing how some bears sit in big chairs, unlike the baby bears that sit in little bears. This young bear is describing the difference between adults, children, and infants. I thought that the book was clever because it made the adult life to seem wonderful, just like how I thought when I was younger. Jane Yolen used the example of staying up late, which I used to envy when I was little. I enjoyed the ending because it tied the story together by showing that the infant does have a great life. The little bear rests in his Papa’s chest, which most young children can all relate too. I think that this book is a great book to tell before bed. The baby bear falls asleep at the end, so it would be a good transition for a child’s bedtime. Similar to Grandma’s Hurrying Child, I do not think that I would read this as a read aloud in my classroom, but it is a great book for adults read to their child.