The Biggest Bear

Written by Lynd Ward

Narrated by Owen Jordan

Johnny hunts for the biggest bear in the forest, but comes home with a little bear - that grows and grows and grows.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Weston Woods
• Release date: Jan 1, 1993
• ISBN: 9780545404136

Reviews for The Biggest Bear

[chelseahopton · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The is a Caldecott Medal award winning book that is great to be read to young children (4yrs-8). A little boy is on a mission to go out and find a huge bear to bring back to his grandfather to hang the skin in the barn. Every once else in the valley had huge bear skins hanging and this humiliated the little boy, Johnny. Read to find out what kind of bear he brings back to the valley!

[tashabear_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Hard to believe this book won a Caldecott. I don't believe in banning books, but this one I might make an exception for. Hunting? Raising a bear and shooting it because it eats too much food? Really shoddy bear illustrations? The bear ends up in a tiny little cage? This book is replete with depressing, dated and ignorant beliefs and behaviors.

[caltstatt_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Johnny Orchard is a little boy who lives in a valley where maple sugar and bear hides are very common. He is ashamed though that his barn does not dorn a bear hide. Therefore he decides to go to the woods to shoot a bear. He finds a bear, but it is a cub and it eats the maple sugar Johnny feeds it. Johnny takes the bear home and it grows to be enormous because it eats everything and takes food from the neighbors. The neighbors get upset and Johnny must take the bear away. The only problem is that the bear always follows Johnny back. One day Johnny is taking the bear to the woods to shoot it, but the bear takes off and Johnny can just hold the rope. They wind up in a trap. Men come and tell Johnny they are excited the bear is so big and they are taking him to the zoo. Johnny is happy he gets to go see the bear anytime he wants and take him maple sugar.This is a cute story to be read to young students to teach them to never give up hope.

[isaacfellows · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Here's one of this semester's best surprises for me; Lynd Ward is an awesome artist. His evocation of the forest is grand. I'd love to introduce children to this forgotten work in a storytime.

[sfm13 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There is a special bond between the bear and Johnny that is clearly evident in Ward’s expressive art. In modern times, readers may look at this book as cruelty to animals, but in the time the story was first written this wasn’t considered an issue.

[karrieskorner · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was published in 1952 before anyone would think twice about whether it was politically correct to write a book about a boy who sets out to shoot a bear. Despite the intial premise that Johnny Orchard, in order to prove himself a brave boy, sets out to find the biggest bear he can find with the intent of killing him, this book is still a really nice story.Johnny isn't as cold and heartless as he pretends, especially when he finds a bear cub in the woods and decides to bring him home. As Johnny raises the cub there are all kinds of hijinks that go on around the homestead, and soon Johnny's bear is so big that he can no longer with the family.The subtle message in the book is what happens to wild animals when they are taken from their natural habitat and forced to live the life that humans live. The reader starts to feel sorry for the bear and Johnny as it becomes clear that Johnny has to do something to remove the bear from his home. Taking responsiblity for his actions, Johnny leads the bear to the woods, and in his hands are the rifle that he had hunted with a long time ago when he found the bear. The implication is clear -- because the bear has been domesticated, it won't be able to survive in the wild and Johnny must deal with that.The suspense of whether Johnny is going to shoot his bear doesn't last but a minute, and animal rights people will have no argument with this book on that level. The illustrations are line drawings in a sepia tone, and are beautiful. The text and illustrations work very well together, creating a truly beautiful reading experience. This would be a great story for any boy who fancies himself a hunter, or who wants to own a gun. Likewise, it is for children who think they want to adopt exotic pets like lions, tigers, monkeys and bears (oh my!).The Biggest Bear has endured all these years, and I can't see it ever being out-of-date.