Illustrated By: Martha Alexander
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Copyright Date: 2000
Number of Pages: 30
Reading Level: Ages 4-6
Summary
In this book a little boy is upset because he keep getting in trouble with his mother. He complains that she yells at him all the time. Suddenly a Bear comes out of the blackboard and says he could run away with him. So they set out together. The boy eats as much as he wants saying that mom never let him eat that much because she claimed that he would get sick. He gets sick. They continue on and the boy wants a hamburger but the bear only has fish that were still wiggling. When it gets dark the bear takes the boy to a cave for the night. While there the boy wishes that he could have his pillow and blanket. He starts missing his mother and wonders if she is lonely. He says that she is mostly a good mom. He really wants to go home. The bear gives him a ride back hme and the boy finds his Teddy underneath the window. In the end the little boy climbs back into his room clinging to his Teddy Bear.
Personal Response
I absolutely loved this book. The illustrations are absolutely wonderful. I love how it shows the Blackboard Bear coming out of the Blackboard. This book addresses children's very real feeling that parents can be really mean. However, this story turns it around back at the child, and says in response, parents can be really nice to. It shows how parents are mostly nice even if you get in trouble sometimes.
Potential Problems
At the very end instead of the mother telling the child how much she loves him it ends with the boy telling his teddy bear that he loves him. The mother doesn't actually show her son how much she cares about him.
Recommended to...
I would recommend this book to young children who get in trouble. This would be a good book for children to realize that parents don't tell their children not to do things because they're mean, it's because they know whats best for them.
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