My child is a night owl. I myself am a reformed night owl, so he gets it honestly. It’s never bothered me before; I’ve always worked all day so I cherish the time I can spend with my child during the evening hours. However, as school age steadily approaches, I am faced with reality: one day soon, waking up at 9:00 AM (and only then to watch Scooby Doo) isn’t going to cut it! I am faced with the daunting task of reducing my son’s bedtime from 10 PM (on a good night) to somewhere closer to 8:30 PM. I’d rather pull teeth.

I’ve learned a few tricks along the way. One important one is to develop a nightly routine so your child knows what to expect. Ours begins with cleaning up my child’s bedroom together, taking a bath and then reading a few bedtime stories. This has worked wonders for us, since he associates bedtime more with these activities than the numbers on the clock. I’ve thus far managed to back us up to 9 PM I’m proud to report, but there are nights when we are busy and it seems impossible to keep the schedule. At these times, you need to find a way to cut a few corners, and no toddler obsessed with rules will let you skip a step of his day. This is where The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear comes in. It packs a big punch when time is a premium.

The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and The Big Hungry Bear is written by Don and Audrey Wood and is illustrated by Don Wood. You may recognize the name if you are very familiar with children’s literature; Audrey also wrote The Napping House. Both books are noted for their beautiful illustrations. The Big Hungry Bear is a hard cover book that I purchased from Discovery Toys. The pictures are done in vibrant hues and are larger than any other book I’ve seen. For a toddler, they are eye-candy! Remember the scenes from Honey I Shrunk the Kids where the plant and animal life was so large to the shrunken children that they could slide down a blade of grass into a lake made by a raindrop? It’s the same concept here. In this book the Mouse is the size of a human, so you can see how the grass that he lives in looks like a forest. He even has a hammock strung up between two weeds.

Even though the illustrations are my favorite thing about this book, the words, while sparse, have much impact. If you are an animated reader, you can really do a lot with this book. Each page captures the emotions and thoughts of the mouse perfectly. He’s happy-go-lucky when he sets off to pick his strawberry, thoughtful when asked about the Big Hungry Bear, frantic while trying to hide his treasure and then satisfied at the end when he’s eaten his strawberry.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of the story itself is the participation of the reader. It’s delightful to have a child discover that perhaps they shouldn’t be worrying about a Big Hungry Bear eating their strawberry, but a sly fox of a reader! It gives the child some food for thought in the form of subtlety, which is generally in short supply at my home!

Another great facet of this book is that the words are in large print. My 4-year old can actually recognize some letters and these are large enough for little eyes to see. For instance, I can point out that Bear starts with a B and ends with R and show him the word once. Then, on the next pages, I have him look for that word again and tell me the sound a B makes. Sounds simple, I’m sure, but it’s great practice for a preschooler.

This book is designed for children 3 years and up but I bought this when my child was about 18-months old and he’s loved it since then. They may not understand the subtle story line, but there are so many other wonderful aspects to this book, not the least of which is colorful pages, that I think it would be a wonderful addition to any child’s library.



Recommended: Yes