When it comes to picture books, it's very hard to beat BEARS and NATURE as kid-magnets. Put those topics in the care of a talented story teller and a genuine genius of an illustrator, and you'll have your hands on a book with timeless and timely appeal.
Bear Came Along is written by Richard T. Morris, and illustrated by LeUyen Pham, just such a dynamic duo.
It is a delight in every way.
There's that old saying, you don't know what you don't know... right?
In this case each element of the story, from the river itself, to bear, to each of the unexpected events and critters who join in the unfolding adventure/fun/danger, discoveries are being made, ideas are multiplying, tension is rising, and the resolution is sheer joy.
I was especially fond of the river's eventual self-awareness and agency, as well as the powerful author and illustrator notes in back matter.
Don't miss this next book, Something Good, written by Marcy Campbell and illustrated by Corinna Luyken. Inspired by an actual school situation, this fictionalized account leans into the GOOD in Something Good. Events play out realistically, not with an overnight change, or erasure of the BAD thing that generated change in the children at school. Instead, it is the support and hard work and creativity of the families and teachers and children that scaffolds their return to kindness and appreciation of others, perhaps more intentionally and aware than before the BAD THING appeared on the bathroom wall. Lovely illustrations convey subtle shifts in emotion throughout, with characters of many identities and backgrounds.
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