Review - Warm Clothes for Bear

Warm Clothes for Bear
by Sam Loman
Date: 2020
Publisher: Clavis Publishing
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Bear is all dressed up to play outside in the snow. His friends are there too. But they aren’t quite as prepared. Bear shares his warm clothes with his friends. But what about Bear?

A heartwarming story about caring for others and caring for yourself. For cuddly bears ages 4 and up.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This is the second book I've read about Bear, the first being Bear in Love. The books are cute, but very simple.

In this instance, Bear wants to go outside to play, so he gets all bundled up in his winter wear. Each friend he encounters, though, is cold on some part of their body, so Bear sheds his gear, one piece at a time, until he's left shivering. Then his friends come to cheer him up, and everybody learns a lesson about dressing for the weather.

The message about sharing and caring (for yourself, as well as for others) is a nice one. I'm still a bit thrown by the illustrations in these books, however; why is a squirrel the same size as a bear? (There's a scary thought.) But the pictures are cute and kids probably won't care about the weird sizes of the animals.

Overall, this is a nice story about being kind. We could use more books like this in the world.

Thank you to NetGalley and Clavis Publishing for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 4/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 3.5 out of 5