Bear's Picture

What a delightful story! Bear wants to paint a picture, and so he does! Using colors that speak to him, and using his intuition and inner feelings, he adds another color to the colors expressing what he sees as the picture develops into a lovely collage of beauty.

Along came two "proper" gentlemen in suits and top hats. Offering their unsolicited negative opinions, they rudely interjected nasty comments. First, they aadamantly state that a bear cannot paint a picture. Whereupon the self motivated bear asks "Why can't a bear do anything he likes?"

Another judgement is thrown at the bear when he is told that "Bears aren't the sort of fellows who can do whatever they like Continuing their snobby judgement, they ask just what the bear's show more paining is supposed to be. Confident in voice and manner, the bear pays no mind and tells the pretentious proper gentlemen that he can tell what his work of art signifies.

With much confidence, the bear tells them what his colors represent, whereupon the proper gentleman disagree and tell him what his picture represents.

Continuing to paint, the bear let's the proper gentlemen know that his paining does not need to match what they think is represented. It is after all, HIS paining.

The book ends in a creative, gotta ya manner. I loved the story of those who know it all and those who stand firm against the criticism and derision.

This is a book that hopefully encourages children to be themselves and to ignore the critics and negative people in the world. Bears can, and do paint their own kind of picture, and sing their own special song.

I enjoyed this lovely book and the surprise ending. show less

Yay for Goodreads, for community reviews. There's no way to evaluate books like this objectively. Professional critics wouldn't really have much of value to say here. Even though some of my GR friends rate this lower, I love it and highly recommend it.

And that's the theme of the book. Everyone can be an artist, even if the only ppl who appreciate their work are themselves (Bear), or posthumous coffee mug designers (Van Gogh). And everyone can be a critic.

And in my case, since I happen to love [a:D.B. Johnson|3280243|D.B. Johnson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1374025549p2/3280243.jpg] and often enjoy Pinkwater, I loved this book. I love it even more than [b:The Dot|825377|The Dot|Peter H. show more Reynolds|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1363702319s/825377.jpg|2919579], which was a darn good book. I love the gray and proper and judgemental gentlemen, and their fate. I love Bear's self-confidence and zest, and his neck-piece (even though I don't know if it's meant to be a tie, a scarf, or nothing in particular). I love the development of the painting.

I wish more ppl would read this book and also discover for themselves the joy of creativity. show less

A bear wants to paint a picture. So he gets out his paper, brushes, and paints and begins to create. He’s blissfully painting when two gentlemen happen upon the bear. One is short and round, the other tall and slim. As soon as they see the bear painting they begin criticizing the artwork. “Bears can’t paint.” “Besides it’s a silly picture.” Exasperated, the bear defends his painting as the two men inch closer to figure out “what it is supposed to be.” Before they know it, the men have stepped inside the bear’s creation and then bear begins painting them into the composition until they disappear saying, “Bears are not the sort of fellows to paint pictures.” When they’re gone bear looks at his picture and finds show more he’s very happy with his painting.

This story not only celebrates the creation of artwork, it also turns the tables on art critics. The bear never asks for anyone’s opinion on his painting, he just feels the need to create. The critics on the other hand never admit that their point of view might be too rigid and structured, even as they disappear into the painting. The text is mostly dialogue and the story moves along quickly. The text and illustrations really go hand in hand. The illustrations were done with mixed media and somehow give the impression of being flat and three dimensional at the same time. The characters are rendered in grayscale, which pulls the reader’s focus to the bear’s colorful painting. Speaking of the painting, make sure to turn the final picture of the painting upside and take a look.

Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2012/04/book-106-bears-picture-by-daniel.htm... show less

I like Daniel Pinkwater for his sense of humor most of the time. I liked this book for laying out an explanation for art appreciation so eloquently. It was really nicely done. The illustrations were okay, but the text was won me over

This book is possibly one of my new favorite children book. I loved the whole story, and the message that it had. A bear was just sitting painting a picture and two gentle men pass by and tell him how bears CAN'T paint pictures, when the bears asks why, the gentlemen simply respond "it is not what bears do." Despite the criticisms that this bear is receiving from the gentlemen he continues to paint his picture. When he was done painting the picture, the bear was satisfied. The moral behind this story I felt was a very strong one. People should do what makes them happy, and not let others tell them what they are and are not capable of doing.

A delightful book about the importance of expressing one's self and not conforming to the expectations of others. Bear paints even though he is told by two "proper gentlemen" that "bears can't paint pictures." Bear continues to splash more and more color and life into his painting in spite of being criticized for his "silly picture." Bear proves his critics the silly ones as they are swept away in the frenzy of vivid colors.

A bear continues to paint what he likes despite the criticism of two gentlemen who believe that bears cannot be artists.