Dog and Bear: Two Friends, Three Stories

I think this was a cute book to represent the relationship of this bear and dog. It shows how even though all bear wanted was to have his alone time, he realized that all the dog wanted was to spend time with him. Often times, we get annoyed of that person who is always asking to hang out to spend time with us but we need to realize that they just care about us. I think the bear did a good job of showing that. I could use this in my classroom if some of the students were arguing with each other or if there was tension between a few students.

I think the reason the book is partially titled Three Stories even though it only appears to include one is for its tale of three different themes: courage through friendship, personal space, and accepting oneself and helping others accept themselves.
The theme of needing personal space even from the best of friends is a positive one, to me. From my experience with 3-4 year olds, I’ve noticed the trend for kids needing space and then also for friends not always being understanding of such a need. It’s a great think to teach children that having such a feeling is normal and furthermore, it is OK to ask for what one needs.
Not such a fan of the illustrations.

These early readers follow in the style of Marshall's George & Martha & Lpbel's Frog & Toad, using simple text to depict amusing stories. While I love Seeger's artwork in her concept books, I can only muster lukewarmth for these. I do love, however, that all young readers who meet Dog & Bear will know how to employ the great Yiddishy phrase,"Not to worry."

Seeger involves a wonderful use of point of view in her illustrations. Her illustrations also provide a lot of the story, without them, the story would be very confusing. She also puts many of the difficulties of friendship that people don't normally want to talk about into simple terms, but have a lot of depth. Even older readers might learn a thing or two about boundaries, sharing, trust, and selflessness from reading this book.

These early readers follow in the style of Marshall's George & Martha & Lpbel's Frog & Toad, using simple text to depict amusing stories. While I love Seeger's artwork in her concept books, I can only muster lukewarmth for these. I do love, however, that all young readers who meet Dog & Bear will know how to employ the great Yiddishy phrase,"Not to worry."

Bear needed help getting off the table so his bestfriend dog helped him by letting him slide down his back. Then bear is trying to read by himself and dog keeps asking him to play over and over. First bear is annoyed because he wants alone time but then he realizes dog just wants to play with his friend. Next dog wants to change his name so he looks in a name book for dogs. He calls out different names to bear until bear suggests “My Bestfriend Dog” or dog for short.

This book is really good and shows how great a bond of two siblings can be. Its really nice to see how Dog and Bear care and watch over each other. The story begins with Dog making a cake, Bears favorite cake, but actually ends up eating it all and feels bad. Bear still appreciates that dog remembers his birthday to begin with. But Dog starts to feel bad because of all the cake he ate, so bear takes care of him until he is physically exhausted and needs rest. Then Dog tells him to rest and tucks him in and places a blanket on him.