Big Bear’s Big Boat by Eve Bunting (review)

After growing into Big Bear and giving away his beloved little boat in Little Bear’s Little Boat, Big Bear decides its time to build himself a new boat to accommodate his new size. He’s content with the results of his labors until his friends start making suggestions to add a mast, a top deck, and a cabin. After trying out all these ideas, he is dissatisfied with the cobbled-together boat he creates and realizes that he needs to stay true to his original plan. His boat and his peace of mind restored, Big Bear takes his boat out to the lake, reveling in the solitude and the occasional friendly wave from Little Bear. The problem of caving to others’ suggestions will be a familiar one to many children, and Big Bear’s response offers a considerate and useful model of assertiveness and individuality. The gentle, simply worded text and childlike bear will appeal to fans of Minarik’s Little Bear series, and the short sentences and uncomplicated vocabulary may put this within range of the easy-reader crowd as well. Carpenter’s pen and ink and digital art have an appropriately casual, slightly rustic feel to them and the woodsy browns and greens and pale lake-blues are effectively highlighted by the brighter cerulean of Big Bear’s boat and by touches of red in Little Bear’s boat. Pair this with the previous book, or perhaps pull it out when things get heated in the block corner as a reminder that there are many ways to build.