Customer Reviews

When the Wind Bears Go Dancing

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A beauftiful, lyrical book for 2-10 year olds-lovely illustrations and lyrical narrative. creative and captivating. My all time favorite kids book-my three year old boy loves it too!

What a delight this book is! As a musician, and as a children's music teacher, I fell in love with the lovely, rhythmic feel! Children will find the illustrations captivating, and the simple musical references in the book are a great teaching tool for young children's music class.

Wind Bears is so cute. Its rythmic lines and colorful pictures would capture any child's imagination. My one year old loves to sit and let me read it to him. It is so creative and delightful. I love it. Bambi

I read this book to a first grade class. They enjoyed the bright colored pictures and story line. I highly recommend this book for K-3.

My two year old son LOVES this book! The rythmic beat of the verse is almost hypnotic for bedtime reading. The brilliant colors draw him to this book every time. This paperback book was a gift from my sister, but it's so well loved that we may end up having to buy the hardback!

The illustrations in this fabulous little book are a delight, with rich colors, expressive animals, and marvelous details. The dancing bears float across the sky like a Chagall painting, play instruments, and drive a nifty little orange car; There are also many other lovable creatures, and sometimes you have to look carefully to find all the rabbits and squirrels hidden in the foliage.
The human element is a sweet brown haired girl in a blue dress and floppy flowered hat, and who is afraid of the storm. Her mother introduces her to the bears, and she starts to see the storm as a friendly, magical event.
The highlight for me is the big cat trio with the lion playing the violin, and the verse for this is:
"Then the lions and leopards and lynx play the strings.
Hear them howling and yowling the way the wind sings".
All the verses are simple but well written, and have an imaginative charm that goes well with the pictures.

As an artist/illustrator, I take my hat off to the award winning Phoebe Stone, for her unique and exquisite work in this book. Stone also has made a name for herself as a fine artist, and "When the Wind Bears Go Dancing" was the first children's book she both wrote and illustrated. Art pieces from this book have been exhibited at the Boston area DeCordova Museum, and at The Society of Illustrators in New York City, and my favorite "lion and violin" illustration graced the cover of Booklist Magazine.
If you have a child who is afraid of nature's wilder moments, this book will help to calm their negative feelings, and bring a sense of adventure to scary elements like lightning, wind and rain.
The paper is of nice quality, with a semi gloss sheen, and the color reproduction is superb.