Bears, cats and a bird who learned a bad word, oh my!
Jacob Grant is a writer and an illustrator who brings fun animals to life that often resemble the little people in our lives. His characters learn about boundaries, personal space, making compromises for a friend and more! Check out these titles for beautifully illustrated books with real-life lessons.
“Bear’s Scare” (2018)
Bear and his stuffed teddy, Ursa, keep their house in tip-top shape. One day, while cleaning, Bear discovers spiderwebs all over the house. Panicked by the idea of a dirty spider, Bear wrecks the house trying to find the spider. In looking for the spider, Bear hurts Ursa on the corner of his bed. Bear is very upset as Ursa was his very special friend. As he rushes through his messy house to look for something to fix Ursa, the friendly spider in the house uses web to patch Ursa up. Bear thanks his new spider friend and decides that maybe spiders are okay.
“Bear Out There” (2019)
Bear and Spider have very different ideas about a day well spent. Bear likes life inside of his house, where everything is clean and he has tea. Spider prefers to be outside, in the wilderness, with his kite. One day, Spider loses his kite and goes to Bear for help finding it. For his friend, Bear hikes into the forest to help look for the kite. Bear is miserable in the forest, but he tries to put his best foot forward to help his friend.
“Through With the Zoo” (2017)
Goat is done with living in a petting zoo. He needs space from the small children with grabby hands. Goat decides he must move into the main part of the zoo, where children are not allowed in the enclosures. He tries living with a koala, a bear and a variety of animals, but none will give him the space he needs. Finally, Goat moves outside of the zoo completely, into an open field with a tree. Now that he has space, Goat begins to feel lonely. He realizes that sometimes people need space, but not forever. He decides to move back into the petting zoo, keeping his tree in mind if he ever needs space again.
“Cat Knit” (2016) – An unlikely love story
“Cat Knit” is the cutest story told from the perspective of a young girl’s grumpy cat. Cat and Girl have always been friends. One day, Girl brought home Yarn. At first, Cat liked Yarn, they were inseparable friends. Then, Girl makes Cat a sweater using Yarn. Now, Cat does not care for Yarn until Yarn, as a sweater, protects him from the cold.
“Little Bird’s Bad Word” (2015)
Little Bird learns a new word from Papa when Papa nearly drops their dinner. Papa tries to convince Little Bird not to use the word, but instead, reinforces to Little Bird that it’s a Big Bird Word, not a bad word. Little Bird is excited to use the new word with all his friends. This creates a lot of discomfort and bad feelings. Little Bird learns that words have power.
