A Hibernating Bear and a Holiday Hare


Children - Preschool
57 Pages
Reviewed on 12/06/2017
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite

A Hibernating Bear and a Holiday Hare is a collection of stories and pictures for preschool children, written and illustrated by Mary Alice Sutherland. Sutherland includes a number of natural history stories in this collection besides the title piece. She’s also got a story about mice, a porcupine, a lobster, a bearcat, a tiger and a cheetah. Each tale informs the reader about the animal, its habitat and habits, and is accompanied by a painting of the subject animal. Her other stories often include children, ranging in age from infancy to preschool age, with topics ranging from birthday wishes to appreciation of one’s pet dog, to the things one learns and does out on an adventure in the woods or at preschool. Sutherland includes a number of portraits of children as well as landscape paintings featuring floral gardens, street scenes and seasides.

Mary Alice Sutherland’s collection of stories and pictures for preschool children, A Hibernating Bear and a Holiday Hare, contains a wealth of engaging tales about animals that acts quite well as an introduction to natural history for young listeners. While those of her tales that are about children are fun and will be, no doubt, quite relevant for kids and their caregivers, I particularly enjoyed her animal and natural science tales. They do a marvelous job of introducing the natural world to children, and her animal portraits are quite good. The tiger drawing has a distinctly Asian feel to it, and her bear, bearcat and porcupine images are first-rate. This collection educates as it entertains and that’s a very good thing. It should provide hours of reading pleasure and be the springboard for discussions about nature and the environment. And you won’t want to miss out on the spectacular painting of the earth, with continents and wind currents lovingly portrayed. A Hibernating Bear and a Holiday Hare is most highly recommended.