Cover of Baby Bear's Bedtime Book by Jane Yolen

Baby Bear’s Bedtime Book

BABY BEAR’S BEDTIME BOOK

Illustrated by Jane Dyer

Harcourt Brace 1990

ISBN # 0-15-205120-1 Harcourt hardcover

This was written as a companion to THREE BEARS RHYME BOOK, using the same characters, but instead of rhyme, this book is told in prose. Baby Bear, determined not to go to bed, cons his babysitter Goldie into telling him story after story. Each story she tells is connected visually to one of his toys. In the end, when she starts to tell “The Three Bears,” he is already fast asleep. If you can resist Jane Dyer’s adorable pictures, you are stronger than I am! Jane lives in the town next to mine so I got to sneak over to her studio and watch the book in progress. It was an honor and a privilege and I tried not to overstay my welcome.

What reviewers have said:

  • “The stories are pure froth, and the prolific Yolen outdoes herself at one point with an exceedingly comical account of a flock of sheep, all named Sam. Dyer, Yolen’s collaborator on the Piggins books and The Three Bears Rhyme Book , treats readers to crisp, imaginatively framed images in a palette of clear, fresh colors.” — Publishers Weekly
  • *STARRED REVIEW* “The stories are sure to be a hit with both clever young listeners and adult readers, who will appreciate the alphabet jokes, the word play, and the storytelling conventions that might otherwise go over the heads of the younger audience. The internal unity of each story, along with its brevity, makes the book a candidate for several rereadings. The watercolor illustrations, alternating with the two-page spread for each story and showing all manner of incongruous detail in a unified montage, provide the visual detail that will draw children to them again and again. And the page-turning quality of the narrative, compelling readers on to the end of the small stories, as well as to the end of the frametale, will move any child to bed with sweet dreams.” — School Library Journal
  • “. . .a collection of brief vignettes that are quirky and charming exercises in using imagination and make an enticing comapnion to the author and artist’s The Three Bears Rhyme Book.”–Booklist
  • “Deliciously offbeat.”–Kirkus