Climb the Family Tree, Jesse Bear! (Jesse Bear Books) [Hardcover]

Nancy White Carlstrom (Author), Bruce Degen (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 22, 2004 | Age Level: 2 and up | Series: Jesse Bear Books

Are we there yet?

Are we there yet?

We're here, Jesse Bear!

We're here!

At his family reunion, Jesse Bear visits with aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins galore. Readers will love being introduced to this lively extended family, and they will celebrate with Jesse bear when he is finally old enough to do something very special.

Nancy White Carlstrom and Bruce Degen once again explore a preschooler's world through the eyes of the always endearing Jesse Bear.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 1–The much-loved, irrepressible Jesse Bear is back in another adventure. Here, readers are introduced to his extended family as they gather for a reunion and have fun dancing and singing under the stars, going on hayrides, and playing croquet. The cub is right in the middle of the action, playing with his cousins and trying new foods and activities. Carlstrom's breezy, bouncy rhymes describe all of the tastes, smells, and sights of an active and loving family get-together. The watercolor-and-ink illustrations are bright, cheery, and uncluttered. Fans of Jesse Bear will be more than satisfied with this child's-eye view of an event that many youngsters experience.–Wendy Woodfill, Hennepin County Library, Minnetonka, MN
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

PreS-Gr. 1. Jesse Bear and his aunts, uncles, and cousins return to Grandpa and Grandma's farmhouse for a big family reunion. After sleeping out in a tent, Jesse enjoys boating, a hayride, games, stories, and a picnic with the bear clan. The "family tree" in the title doesn't refer to genealogy, although that's implied with all the relatives running around, but to the big tree that Jesse is finally old enough to climb at the end of the book. Rhyming couplets keep the story moving along quickly from one happy scene to the next, while the ink drawings, brightened with colorful washes, reflect the genial tone of the words. An amiable addition to primary-grade and preschool units on families. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 2 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers; 1st edition (June 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689807015
• ISBN-13: 978-0689807015
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #975,625 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nancy White Carlstrom started writing when she was seven years old and has been writing ever since. She says, "I write when I am happy and when I am sad, and especially when I celebrate God's creation. When you read This Is the Day, I hope it will cause you to look at your world and be surprised by wonder every day of the week."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Celebration of Family Fun and Tradition!, February 4, 2006

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Climb the Family Tree, Jesse Bear! (Jesse Bear Books) (Hardcover)

This book depicts an idyllic family reunion, replete with an assortment of colorful aunts, uncles, great-aunts, counsins, and grandparents, and loads of food for all of them to eat! Little Bear travels discovers his family roots, as he visits relatives young and old, and there's even a flashback of sorts as he looks through the family photo album and sees pictures of the past:

We hear tales of long ago:

Weddings by the tree,

THe day you raced to the hospital'

THe day you first saw me!

In fact, 'Climb the Fmaily Tree' is something of a photo album itself. There are framed full-page illustrations, soft and lovingly rendered by Bruce Degen ("Jembrry"), and the topmost edges of the pages sometimes have a yellowed cast to them. Degen's watercolor and ink pictures capture the bright clothes and shining personalities of the extended bear family, and his backgrounds are soft andtextured with color. The story, while decorated with traditional family motifs such as a huge picnic and loving relatives, also admits that disputes can happen (and can be resolved), and that the family flourished despite and because of individual differences.

"It feels so good to see them all--

Our family in one spot.

Some are different, some the same.

Some like to hug a lot!

There's also a fair amount of action, including a deft series of four vertical panels showing family members boating, taking a hayride, playing croquet, and playing hide-and-seek. For these reasons, the book feels deeper and more layered than some others I've read about family get-togethers. Ultimately,the book also conveys a kind of rite of passage, as young Jesse Bear symbolically becomes a full-fledged member of the family tree of traditions, memories, and stories:

Grandma has the trunk brought out

Of faded family clothes.

The cousins all dress up in thm

And for the pictures pose.

But the most exciting thing

That's special, just for me--

This is the year I'm old enough

To climb the family tree!

5.0 out of 5 stars Another terrific Jesse Bear book, January 3, 2008

By 

Ceciliarose (Maryland) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Climb the Family Tree, Jesse Bear! (Jesse Bear Books) (Hardcover)

Just one more terrific book in the Jesse Bear series. The rhymes provide a wonderful tool for early readers.