Bear Stays Up for Christmas

I thought the book “Bear Stays Up For Christmas” was a great holiday book for children. The first reason I liked the story was because of the rhyming pattern. For example, “The day before Christmas,/ snuggled on the floor,/ Bear sleeps soundly/ with a great big snore.” This pattern continues throughout the book and adds a very pleasant rhythmic flow that keeps the story going. In addition, the book repeats the line, “But the bear stays up” about every third page. This repetition is very beneficial to early readers and can make a read-aloud of the book interactive. Lastly, the story could also be an educational tool for a unit about animals. The book talks about the bear hibernating through the winter, and also references a show more mouse, a badger, a gopher, a mole, a raven, a hare, and more. The warm color scheme in the book sets the soft, happy, and cozy mood of the holiday season as the animals make a fire and decorate their Christmas tree. The main idea of the book is that spending time with family is always worth it, no matter what else you have to put aside. show less

I like this book because it has beautiful illustrations of the talking animals in a realistic setting. This is also another great book for beginning readers, since it uses repetition throughout the story. This book is great for introducing fantasy, since it is something that many students can relate to, that being celebrating Christmas or any holiday. However, the fantasy side of the story is the talking animals. I also like that the author describes everything their doing to get ready for Christmas. For example, "He toils all night until the sun rises, making his friends their Christmas surprises."

A cute little Christmas book reminiscent of The Night Before Christmas. Friends wake a hibernating bear so that they can spend Christmas together and try to keep him awake.

It's a cute poem, but not the best flow if you're picky about that sort of thing (I tend to be), but the illustrations are lovely, especially with the little details like the feathers over Raven's beak, or Mole's over-sized burrowing feet.

I'm not familiar with "Bear" (the book series) but I happened to read this while standing in line at a book store and felt it would make a cute addition to my Christmas arrangements.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a very cute read and it emphasized the importance of friendship and of giving throughout the whole story. It is a very fun read, especially around Christmas time.

I am giving this book four stars because it is a jolly Christmas book with a pleasant message. This is a trade holiday book, but it can be used for more than talking about Christmas. A bear who has just begun to hibernate for the winter gets woken up from his slumber by his friends. His friends want him to stay up for Christmas this year. Bear really wants to as well, so his friends try hard to keep him awake. Eventually the bear stays up and sees Santa, while his friends all fall asleep. In the morning, all the friends give each other thoughtful presents, and bear goes back to sleep with his cozy new quilt. I think the meaning behind this story is all about friendship. Bears friends want him to experience Christmas, so they do show more everything to help him stay awake. In the end they each give each other thoughtful presents, which is always nice. This could be used in classrooms to talk about hibernation, or about friendship. In some classrooms, talking about Christmas is not allowed, but this book does not get too into the actual holiday. The illustrations in this book are very pretty. They make everything seem nice, and they display the friendship between all the animals. show less

This book has very predictive text and is very fun to read with 3y to 5th grade. The children love to chant 'But the Bear Stays Up'. I highly recommend this as a unreligious Christmas favorite.

This short story introduces children to Christmas, and friendships. The bears friends are able to keep him from starting his hibernation until after Christmas, that way he can experience the magic. Each of his friends ends up falling asleep the night before Christmas, however bear stays up. When each of his friends wakes up on Christmas morning they are excited to receive their gifts for bear and Santa. This story incorporates holiday joy, friendship, and emotion.