Little Cub (review)

A solitary little bear cub is often hungry and sad until he is meets Old Bear: "'Who do you belong to?' asked Old Bear. 'I belong to me,' said the little cub. 'But maybe I could belong to you.'" Lonely himself, Old Bear decides to take the cub home, tucks him into bed, and sends him off to sleep with a story. Dunrea keeps the narrative of this prequel to Dunrea's Old Bear and His Cub (BCCB 12/10) stalwartly concise and forthright, and the genuine sadness of the little cub's loneliness makes the happy ending deeply satisfying rather than eye-rollingly sentimental. Children will easily relate to the little cub's need to be cared for, even if they've never experienced being parentless, and childlike aspects of Little Cub's character (he wants to eat the honey in a tree but is afraid of being stung by the bees, he gets extra chatty at bedtime) create further opportunities for kids to identify with him. The pencil and gouache illustrations are rich with autumnal color, and each scene is kept in artful balance by lots of clean, white space both within the illustrated page and on the facing page of text. Small, round-bellied Little Cub and hefty, bristly Old Bear are attractive visual complements, and the modest coziness of Old Bear's home and possessions is made all the cozier by the chilly-looking sylvan scenery. Besides being shared along with its companion title, this might also be paired with Moore's A House in the Woods (BCCB 12/11) or even Rylant's Mr. Putter and Tabby series, or simply read as a reassuring bedtime book.