Jesse Bear

Jesse Bear has been around for quite a few years now... we first discovered "It's about time Jesse Bear" when our daughter Amanda was 3-4 years old. She loved the wonderful illustrations and couldn't get enough of the catchy rhymes, i think she memorized them all! we got the book from the public library and ended up having to find it and buy it for ourselves because we kept having to estend our borrowing period! Our daughter recently passed away at the age of 16 due to Pneumonia complications following treatment for Leukemia. It's a difficult time for us, but we are enjoying building a scrapbook of her life and celebrating what a wonderful blessing she was to our lives... and Jesse Bear holds a very important place in that scrapbook! Our oldest son has blessed us with a granddaughter, elena, who is now 15 months old... Amanda loved her niece so much and loved reading to her, though she never got a chance to share the beloved "Jesse Bear" with her... so we will introduce her to the delights of Jesse Bear for her. I think this is a timeless classic that can be such a lovely part of the joy of parents and children reading together. highly recommend!

My three-year-old and I love these rhymes and the wonderful illustrations! In the illustrations, there is much for preschoolers to note and discuss (e.g., mom's frown as Jesse spills pudding).I appreciate the sentiment in many of the poems. In particular, the poem called "Hurry, Jesse" captures the interaction between a working parent and a preschool child perfectly, from the mother encouraging the child to hurry, to the child asking for more time to play, to the mom realizing that unhurried time for the child is probably more important that the task she is rushing off to complete.

This book has about 12 short rhymes. Each has short lines which help to keep young ones attention. It opens with Jesse Bear waking up Mom and Dad and ends with bed time. It traces the busy, imaginative day of an active child. My three year old girl loves each page.

I found out about this book looking for other books by the same illustrator, Bruce Degen (author of Jamberry). Once again he has created a lush, richly illustrated book that makes the reader smile. The unexpected treasure was the wonderful text by author Carlstrom. The words dance off of your toungue as you read this book out-loud. My 4 year old was giggling repeatedly. I'm adding the Jesse Bear book series to my children's bookshelves.