Bear Has A Story To Tell

Written by Philip C. Stead

Narrated by Mike Birbiglia

In this endearing tale of friendship, animals are helped by Bear to get ready for winter. But will they be awake long enough for him to tell his story?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Weston Woods
• Release date: Jan 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9780545785969

Philip C. Stead

PHILIP C. STEAD is the author of the Caldecott Medal winning A Sick Day for Amos McGee, also named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2010 and a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of 2010, illustrated by his wife, Erin E. Stead (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, 2010).  Philip, also an artist, both wrote and illustrated his debut Creamed Tuna Fish and Peas on Toast (Roaring Brook Press, 2009), which was applauded by School Library Journal for “its wry humor and illustrations worthy of a Roald Dahl creation.”  Philip lives with Erin in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Reviews for Bear Has A Story To Tell

[novalibrarymom · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bear Has A Story to Tell is the newest collaboration between husband and wife team Philip and Erin Stead, who also brought the world the 2011 Caldecott winning A Sick Day for Amos McGee. Bear has a story to tell, and he tries gathering his friends to listen. But Mouse, Duck, Mole, and Frog are all too busy preparing for winter. Instead of telling his story, Bear helps each of his friends and then falls into his own winter sleep. When Spring arrives, he eagerly creates his awakening friends and gathers them together for his long-awaited story. Except…Bear can’t remember what that story was. Fortunately, his friends are there to help him along and this book does have a happy ending. Cute, and I enjoy Erin Stead’s classically-styled illustrations.

[jrobinw · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My dog's name is Bear so I couldn't wait to read this book. I loved it because of how the artist captured the expressions of the bear and the writer wrote so that we could understand the bear's gentleness. I especially love it because the face of the bear resembles my sweet dog.

[robinsonstef · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great to spark storytelling and to discuss seasons and hibernating.

[sabrar-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is a very good ficttion book for young readers because there is not a lot of text and it has simple words. This book is about a bear that tries to find other animals to tell them a story buy it’s almost winter and all the animals are busy preparing for the winter season. The bear never finds anyone to tell his story too before winter but when spring comes he tries again. There is a problem thought the bear can not remember his story. The other animals meet up with bear and try to help him remember.

[dmorants-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bear Has Story to Tell is sweet story of a bear that just wants to tell his friends a story before he hibernates for the long winter. This book can be used as a mentor text for a variety of mini lessons such as oral rehearsal. Often times, children find it helpful to orally share what they will write before they begin the process. This book can be used to teach young ones the importance of supporting our thinking. For instance, each time bear approaches a friends and asks "Would you like to hear a story?" His friends reply by saying they are story and then explaining why they can't hear his story. Duck says, "I am sorry, Bear, but it is almost winter, and i am getting ready to fly south." I love all of the information about hibernation, preparing for winter and animal behaviors that the author presents to children in this storybook format. Children will delight in the ending as they will see that it is a circle story and they love discovering that at the end of a good read aloud!

[knold1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Review: This book was a great children's book. There were amazing illustrations throughout the book which helped the reader visualize and connect with the story. The book has a great moral to it and would be a really great book for children to read. Summary: The book begins with bear wanting to tell a story to one of his friends. He walks around the forest and finds squirrel and asks him if he wanted to hear a story but he said that he was too busy trying to find acorns before winter. Bear helps him find acorns and get ready for winter. He moves on to all of his other friends in the forest, but they were all busy too. Before bear realizes it, he was getting very sleepy and fell asleep. A couple of months later he wakes up from hibernation and gathers his friends to finally tell them the story. But after so long, bear forgot his story. So bear and all of his friends get together and create their own story.Argument: I loved this story and I think children would enjoy it too. The illustrations were very well done and helped tell the story. The moral of this story is to always help your friends. In the story, bear wants to tell his friends a story but they are all busy getting ready for winter. He helps all of them do what they need to do before he finally falls asleep for winter. Bear thought of his friends before himself and I think children can learn a lot about friendship from reading this.

[keller_m · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a very simple book with beautiful yet simply painted pictures of Bear and the rest of the forest animals. The strengths of this book, like Mo Willems book, keeps you hooked till the very end. The reader wants to find out what Bears’s story is. What’s so delightful is that the bear is completely content with how things are the way they are and is very patient. What I love about the bear, the other forest animals and the story in general is that fact that there is this anticipation but we are willing wait for it, because the bear is willing to wait for it. Delayed gratification.

[alyson_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Bear has a story to tell and everyone should hear it. I loved it.

[phoenixcomet · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Beautifully animated children's picture book about Bear who has a story to tell, but it's winter and the other animals don't have time before hibernating to listen.

[ashley_peterson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked that the illustrations looked like they were created with colored pencil, or water color pencil. I thought the story was a cute way to explain to children what animals sleep during the whole winter. Although the book doesn't explain why, you as a teacher/parent could explain why they do to them. I also loved that the opening line of the story was the same as the ending. Bear Has a Story to Tell is about a bear who has a story that he wants to tell to someone; There's a problem though, winter is coming/there. He goes up to a mouse, a duck, a mole, a frog, and a mouse to try and tell them their story, but all of them are busy prepping to sleep for the whole winter, or in ducks case fly somewhere warmer. Bear ends up not being able to tell his story to anyone before he too has to curl up and sleep for the winter. Spring comes and bear is excited to finally be able to tell all of his friends his story. After gathering everyone up to share with them the story, he forgot what it was! His friends decide for him to tell a story about a bear, and a duck, a mouse, a mole, and a frog and winter coming.

[abigailadams26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As winter approaches and Bear becomes increasingly sleepy, the gentle giant looks for a friend to whom he can relate his latest tale, only to discover that they are all busy preparing for the coming cold. With Mouse searching for seeds, Duck getting ready for the migration south, Frog looking for a warm place to hibernate, and Mole already fast asleep, none of Bear's friends have time to listen, and he ends up going to his winter rest with his story untold. When spring comes and the friends are reunited, our ursine hero takes the opportunity to share, only to discover he's forgotten what he intended to say! Fortunately his friends are there to help him along...Husband-and-wife team Philip C. and Erin E. Stead, whose A Sick Day for Amos McGee was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 2011, return in this second collaboration, producing a sweetly appealing tale of a group of close-knit woodland friends who, although they each have their own concerns and activities, are bound together in a loving community. The artwork, which looks like it is done in pencil, and then colored in, is particularly expressive, skillfully capturing Bear's lumbering charm and gentle pensiveness. All in all, Bear Has a Story to Tell is a delightful selection, spinning an engaging story of friendship, and offering a lovely tribute to the sweet melancholy of late autumn, and the fresh joy of the early spring.

[lillged · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Steads, creators of the Caldecott Medal winning A Sick Day for Amos McGee, give us a quiet, generous, and at times melancholy story about bear's efforts to tell a story to his friends. Along the way, we readers learn that bear is eager to help others. The ending leaves plenty of space for multiple interpretations and take-aways. And the illustrations offer warmth in their simplicity.Possible teaching connections: storytelling, mining our experiences for seed ideas, considering audience

[bperry93 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The husband and wife duo do it again in this charming story of friendship and the trials and tribulations that it may involve. Her enchanting and detailed illustrations truly bring his words and story to life as they explain the story of bear and his friends and the important message that bear has to share with his friends, all of whom are too busy for him. The couple also wrote and illustrated the multiple award winning book "A Sick Day for Amos McGee", for which Erin, illustrator of "And Then It’s Spring", won the Caldecott Medal. Phillip both wrote and illustrated his debut book "Creamed Tuna Fish and Peas on Toast", proving to also be an artist just like his wife.

[vicmelen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was about a bear ready to go hibernate. He had a story he wanted to share with all his friends. He wasn't able to do that though. The book teaches about friends and helping one another. Even if something happens something better can occur later. Just like bear he forgot the story he wanted to tell but in the end he had an even better story to share. I would share this book with any elementary students.

[ymcmillion · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was an excellent book about animals and their friendships. It is a great story about a bear that only wants to tell a story to his friends and ends up helping his friends and forgetting his story. This book helps children learn what animals do during the winter months.

[attebb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Favorite part of the book: The illustrations. THe soft illustrations and watercolor type pictures make this a book I could just look at and not have to read. The story is about Bear right before he heads back to his home for hibernation. He has one story to tell before he falls asleep and he goes in search of one his friends to hear it. Unfortunately, his friends are all gathering food and leaving for the winter and are in a hurry so Bear helps them and then sends them on their way before heading back to his home still with a story to tell. When Spring arrives, Bear wakes up and finds all of his friends again and they sit down for Bear to tell his story. I liked the end of the story and can see it being used as a lead in to a possible writing story. When Bear sits down with his friends he forgets what the story he wanted to tell and to help him remember, his friends make suggestions such as "Is it about the busy time before winter? Is it about a bear? Are there other characters?" The book went differently than I expected when looking at the cover and the title of the book, but I was generally impressed by the story and feel that it could be a possible read-aloud for young children.

[falend_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bear Has a Story to Tell is about a Bear who wants to tell his friends a story before winter comes and he has to hibernate. He finds his friends busy preparing for winter, so he lends a helping hand. Winter come before Bear could tell his story but he awakes in spring wanting to find his friends for story time. He forgets his story and with the help of his friend creates an even better one.

[demmiee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Bear has a story to tell but none of his friends have the time to listen. Though patience and knowledge that he has good friends bear is able to help others and eventually is able to tell his story. Beautiful illustrations help to make this story come to life.