A Visitor for Bear

The first of four stories to feature this ursine/murine duo - subsequent titles include A Birthday for Bear, A Bedtime for Bear, and the forthcoming The Sniffles for Bear - this charming picture-book follows the slightly less-than-hospitable Bear, who does not want guests (under any circumstances), and his dealings with a "small and gray and bright-eyed" mouse-visitor who doesn't know how to take a hint. Who will win out, in their contest of wills: the irritable bear, or the insouciant mouse...?

A Visitor for Bear was an unexpected delight, on my train-ride into the city this morning! Mouse's antics, in persistently popping up, and Bear's increasingly incredulous frustration, had me giggling. The heart-warming ending, while perhaps not show more so surprising, was quite satisfying, and the watercolor, ink and gouache illustrations were just adorable! All in all, a sweet little book about an odd couple who wind up friends - one I recommend to unhappy little bears and overly persistent mice, as well as to children who like to read about them. show less

A bear does NOT want visitors, but a persistent little mouse keeps coming over until the bear relents. He realizes maybe he actually does want visitors!

I try not to think about the part where the bear repeatedly sets a boundary and the mouse spends the whole book violating it until the bear gives up. Oops! It’s very cute in the end, though. My niece loves looking for the mouse on every page. Also the bear has a real midwestern hoosier cabinet, which is such a cute touch.

A sign on Bear's door clearly states NO VISITORS, but a small, gray, bright-eyed mouse is undeterred. After ejecting his unwanted visitor a few times, Bear gives in, and decides he likes visitors after all.

This is a timeless sort of book, and one I knew I'd want to read again before I was even finished the first time. The mouse is just so endearing and funny; once he wins over Bear, he makes sure not to overstay his welcome.

*

Re-read several times, including July 2020

Curmudgeonly Bear and irrepressibly cheery Mouse stole my heart in the first few pages of this wittily written and illustrated picture book. I love reading this aloud to my elementary students, using a gruff voice for Bear and a squeaky one for Mouse (having recently met Bonny Becker, I will try her suggestion of using a British accent for Mouse!). I have also created a "NO VISITORS ALLOWED" sign to use as a prop to accompany telling, giving it to students to hold up when they see it in the story. Words and illustrations match perfectly to illuminate the character's personalities, expressions and moods. Witness Bear's expression of surprise, feet off the floor, mouth agape, eyes wide, when he discovers Mouse in his china cabinet. Or the show more beautiful, old word, "BEGONE!" paired with the view of Bear's epiglottis. I appreciate Becker's use of unusual and high-level vocabulary, including "Intolerable! Insufferable!" as Mouse irritates Bear beyond Bear's patience. I also love the repetitive phrase for Mouse -- "small and gray and bright-eyed" -- as it emphasizes how different he is from the large and brown and small-eyed Bear. By the end, though, one sees the change in Bear's eyes and demeanor as he realizes he has a friend in his small companion. I'm so glad there are three more Bear and Mouse books, with more to come! show less

Filled with slapstick humor that begs to be read out aloud by someone with deft comicality, this is one of my very favorite picture books ever!
Grumpy Bear and bright-eyed Mouse, and how they become fast friends in the end is a sweet story peppered liberally with humor.

A nice book about the value of letting people into your life. It’s kind of a grumpy grouchy book of confrontation at first. It involves a bear and mouse. I’m sure that the choice of artistic technique was used to literally and figuratively take some of the edge off. The theme seems to be that life is better when you let others in and make friends. The illustrative style enhances this message. The colors are soft, muted, and translucent. They are appropriately used (the bear is brown, the mouse is gray, etc.). At first they same at odds with the intensity of the interactions of the characters. As the story goes on and the interaction softens, the colors are perfect. The graphic design here relies on the interplay of picture and size show more of the lettering to convey the various emotions in the book. Bear is loud and frustrated so his words are very large. Mouse is cool, persistent, and friendly so his words are regular sized. It's very effective. show less

Bear is a grumpy hermit until a little mouse invades his privacy and teaches him about friendship. For some reason reading the mouse's dialog with a squeaky little British accent cracked me up.