New Picture Book by Kevin Henkes

This summer was was fortunate enough to pick up an arc of Kevin Henkes' newest book Old Bear (thanks to Sally at Cover to Cover). This book breathes beauty with Henkes' watercolor illustrations. The story is perfect primary read. It begins with Old Bear settling in for his winter nap and then beginning to dream of the seasons. Just like human dreams can be a bit far fetched, Bear's dreams take the same effect. He dreams that in spring the flowers are as big as the trees and that the summer clouds rain blueberries. After dreaming through the seasons, he wakes up with the feeling that no time has passed. Bear eventually walks into a beautiful spring day pausing to figure out if he is still dreaming.
This book I know will make a wonderful addition to my Kevin Henkes basket that I shelve in the my classroom library. I love that this basket (really Kevin's writing) is so versatile. Old Bear reminds me a bit of A Good Day in that it is a book that has little text on each page and a picture that supports it. It seems a good practice for emergent readers. While his Lily, Chester and Wemberly are longer and are invitations for my transitional readers. Of course, it also hits science curriculum and gives us to opportunities to talk about seasonal changes.
This book is available August 19th and you can pre-order at amazon.com.