We originally discovered the Little Bear books by Martin Waddell and illustrated by Barbara Firth when we were looking for Little Bear
by Elsa Holmelund Minarik and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. I'm so glad we accidentally happened upon them. We now have almost all of them and First Daughter is enthralled. She's recently been working on memorizing You and Me, Little Bear
. It's so adorable to sit next to her as she "reads" it to you.The stories are short and sweet. Not much happens; Little Bear and Big Bear just spend time together, playing and walking in the woods, cleaning their cave. The illustrations are soft, playful and adorable (there's that word again). It's amazing how much Little Bear looks like a little person, cuddly and cute in the way that melts a mother's heart (even when her little one has had a terrible day, and First Daughter has her share of those).
For those that are worried, we did eventually find the original book we sought and First Son loves to read it himself. It even occurred to me that he began to call me "Mother" after reading the stories of Little Bear and Mother Bear.
