54) Maybe A Bear Ate It! by Robie Harris

Bibliographic Citation: Harris, Robie. Maybe a Bear Ate It!. Illustrated by Michael Emberley. Orchard Books, 2008. 40 pages. ISBN: 978-0439929615.

Format: Hardcover

Author/Illustrator Sites: http://robieharris.com, http://www.michaelemberley.com,   

Age Group: Ages 3-4 Years

Annotation: The main character loses its favorite book and comes up with many

implausible, but entertaining ideas explaining how it disappeared.

Reflection: This picture book focuses on the feelings and concerns a child may have when they lose a favorite item, in this case a book.  The book begins with several pages of illustrations of a cat in pajamas crawling into bed, then reading, and then starting to dose off.  There are no words until the sixth page when the cat realizes that his book is missing and the text exclaims, “It’s gone.”  The cat searches under his blanket then begins to panic and cry. The expressive illustrations of the cat’s face help children relate and understand how devastating it would be if they lost a favorite item.  The cat is sad and asks “Where – is – my book?  I need my book!”  The cat then imagines many possibilities of what happened to his beloved book, “Maybe a BEAR ate it!”  and continues to name other animals and what they might have done to his book. The cat decides that he could not go to sleep without his book and the solution is to search for the missing book.  He looks all over the house and tears apart his room until, the book is found.  The picture shows the cat elated and shouting “I LOVE MY BOOK!” while cuddling the book.  The book ends with the cat reading his book in bed and falling asleep with the book safely in his lap. 

Categorization Tags: Animals, Bedtime, Books and Reading