Not This Bear is pre-school comfort food

Our oldest grew up on the Biscuit books. We purchased the Happy Halloween Biscuit board book shortly after his birth and it’s been with us ever since. When he turned two we also got a couple from the I Can Read Book series and they’re still with us. Author Alyssa Satin Capucilli’s latest book, Not This Bear, is not a Biscuit book, but it has all of warmth, charm and approachability that you’d expect her stand out title to have.

The art in Not This Bear is done by Lorna Hussey who has many of her own books out, all of which have some manner of softly drawn, cute animal. Rabbits, bunnies and bears factor into her work with regularity with a unicorn or Christmas Tree thrown in there for good measure.

Not This Bear is squarely aimed at children two to five years old. Bear is off to school, but is scared of what will happen. He doesn’t like new things, is a little bit different, does things that his classmates don’t and is on the outside on every activity. Bears like snacks and school, but not this bear. Not This Bear paints the bear story of an outsider who might not like school, until he meets another bear who doesn’t like doing things.

The two hit if off immediately and play the rest of the day together.  Bear ends the school day on a high note, gives his mother his painting of her and says that he’s excited about the next day.

This is a simple, warm story that young children will enjoy and relate to. Our five year old who just started kindergarten can tolerate the story, while our three year old likes the book and is much more patient with its slow pacing.

The pictures in Not This Bear are large, take up the entire page and are varied enough to let children see many bears doing different things. This book is comfort food for the three year old who is about to experience change. It might be impossible to fully quell their worries, but Not This Bear is a soft, fun book that they’ll learn from on how to handle new things.