I love that this book captures the cozy, safe feeling of being read to as a small child. You could use this book with adults to demonstrate the importance of reading to your children, and how to interact with the book and the child at the same time. Like when the mother says "Shh" because the bear is sleeping, or when they point out the different colors in the illustrations.

I'm going to try this in my evening story time and see if the kids are as lulled by it as I was.

Update: I tried it in story time and I think it had the desired effect. The kids liked saying "shh" with the little boy and the room did get very quiet. It might have been a little too long and a bit too abstract, though, to share with such a young group (3 to 5 year olds, mostly). I'm going to say it's better suited for 1:1 reading. ( )

Sweet, but maybe a little meta for my 4 year old. He lost interest pretty quickly. ( )

A good go to sleep story ( )

A book about a boy and his mother...reading a book! We see the story they are reading is about a hibernating bear and winter activities, but the focus is on the experience of shared reading as mother and son snuggle over the book and talk about the pictures and the story. A great depiction of together quality time and a terrific example of dialogic reading (for all you professionals out there!). Warm, quiet and gentle. ( )

This book is an interesting and imaginative twist on bedtime rituals. This picture book is about a boy and his mother reading a picture book at bedtime about a bear. I love the fact that you kind of get two books in one, story of the bear, and the story of the little boy and his mother. ( )