Customer Reviews

MOONBEAR'S DREAM (Moonbear Books)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In this story Moonbear and his friend bird see a kangaroo. Upon seeing the animal (who has escaped from the zoo), they decide they are dreaming. They go into their house and wreck it with abandon -- eating their winter supplies of food and breaking things. Then they go for a swim. Meanwhile the zookeeper tracks down the kangaroo and comes upon the house, which has been wrecked, not by the zoo animal, but rather by the bear and the bird. The zookeeper cleans up the mess. Bear and bird then return to face a cleaned up house. Every time I read this book to my child I can't help but think that the message is that actions don't have consequences. That is the opposite lesson I want my 3 year old learning.

This isn't my favorite Moonbear story but my son likes it (he just turned 5). The story begins with the unexpected appearance of a mama kangaroo and her joey in Moonbear's yard. The arrival strikes Moonbear and Little Bird as so odd that they conclude they must be dreaming. This determination then leads them to decide that they ought to have some outlandish 'dream fun'.

Dream-fun in this case means being rather naughty. Moonbear and Little Bird, for example, head for their favorite treats and make pigs of themselves. After which they make a huge mess. They are free to do so, they conclude, because all they will need to do to avoid the consequences is to pinch themselves and wake up.

The attraction of this story is probably the naughtiness and tension created when children begin to wonder what is really going to happen. Will the two friends finally realize that they aren't sleeping and have to face the realty of the mess they've left, or will they somehow be saved from that awful possibility? I won't ruin the fun by telling.

Three Stars. Good Read-aloud. Cute artwork. The story is filled with a few twists and turns that really small fry might not appreciate. In general it's not my favorite Moonbear story as it's a little bit of a stretch plot-wise. However my son likes it and if you have a Moonbear fan at home, you might consider adding it to your shelves.

As to reading level, I can only say that I am a little confused. While searching for the Accelerated Reading designation, I found not one but two numbers offered: the first 1.3, and the second 2.4. I don't know if this means Mr. Asch has two different versions of "Moonbear's Dream" in print or what. But the book we read seemed to me to be at the second grade (2.4) level. There is a middling amount of text and some more sophisticated words such as: escaped, pouch, wandered, probably, believe, scooping, and chuckled.

Pam T~

I teach three year olds at a Day Care Center and Frank Asch is right up there with Eric Carle! My little ones sit enthralled as they listen and watch and then they LOVE discussing what happened! They LOVED they idea of wrecking the house yet some of them kept saying that "it isn't a dream"! The simplicity and honest childlike desires makes this another Frank Asch masterpiece! They still demand hearing HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOON every week! You can't go wrong with ANYTHING by Frank Asch!

This isn't my favorite Moonbear story but my son likes it (he just turned 5). The story begins with the unexpected appearance of a mama kangaroo and her joey in Moonbear's yard. The arrival strikes Moonbear and Little Bird as so odd that they conclude they must be dreaming. This determination then leads them to decide that they ought to have some outlandish 'dream fun'.

Dream-fun in this case means being rather naughty. Moonbear and Little Bird, for example, head for their favorite treats and make pigs of themselves. After which they make a huge mess. They are free to do so, they conclude, because all they will need to do to avoid the consequences is to pinch themselves and wake up.

The attraction of this story is probably the naughtiness and tension created when children begin to wonder what is really going to happen. Will the two friends finally realize that they aren't sleeping and have to face the realty of the mess they've left, or will they somehow be saved from that awful possibility? I won't ruin the fun by telling.

Three Stars. Good Read-aloud. Cute artwork. The story is filled with a few twists and turns that really small fry might not appreciate. In general it's not my favorite Moonbear story as it's a little bit of a stretch plot-wise. However my son likes it and if you have a Moonbear fan at home, you might consider adding it to your shelves.

As to reading level, I can only say that I am a little confused. While searching for the Accelerated Reading designation, I found not one but two numbers offered: the first 1.3, and the second 2.4. I don't know if this means Mr. Asch has two different versions of "Moonbear's Dream" in print or what. But the book we read seemed to me to be at the second grade (2.4) level. There is a middling amount of text and some more sophisticated words such as: escaped, pouch, wandered, probably, believe, scooping, and chuckled.

Pam T~

I just finished reading this book and was appalled by this book's message. You can live a reckless life with disregard for any future consequences and some mystical being (parents, government, welfare checks, generous friends) will come to your rescue. Basically moonbear and his friend bird are lolife degenerates that take no responsibility for their actions, you could say that the people these animals represent in modern society is the prison and welfare classes. The 2 degenerates made multiple decisions just like people today (ex. had children with lolife fathers, smoked crack, junior high dropout) with no regard to future consequences. The rest of society has to clean up and support these bums. Moonbear should have starved in winter because he was so foolish as to eat the honey, bird the little follower to the future gang leader moonbear should have starved as well for following such a fool. I would not recommend this book to read to children unless you want your kids to be government dependant or convicts in the future. The zoo keeper is an enabler he is no different than the parent that gives money to their kid to buy crack, or the person who gives the pan handler their spare change.