Many of us dream of things that we wish we could do. Some of us are brave enough to pursue these dreams. The problem is that more often than not our expectations and reality don't quite match up, which leads to disappointment. Perhaps our dream just isn't possible after all.
Today's picture book explores how a bear's dream - to learn how to fly - turns out to be not as impossible as it first seems, though it does not quite work out the way he imagined it would.
Bear Can Dance!
Suzanne Bloom
Picture Book
For ages 4 to 6
Boys Mills Press, 2015, 978-1-62979-442-6
One day Bear and Goose fire up the record player and they
start dancing. As they dance, Bear tells Goose that he wishes he could fly.
Bear would love to “swoop and glide and feel the wind in my fur.” Goose wishes she
could help Bear fly but the sad truth of the matter is that bears just aren’t
made to fly.
The Fox shows up
and Fox is convinced that she can show Bear how to fly. She gives Bear her cape
and goggles and she tells Bear to “flap, flap, flap, and whoosh around.” Bear
does as he is told, but instead of feeling “whooshy” Bear feels “woozy,” which
is not the same thing at all. The three friends then try sliding down a hill on
the snow at full speed but instead of feeling “swoopy,” Bear feels “wobbly.” It
would appear that bears really cannot fly after all.
In this clever,
thoughtful, and delightfully sweet picture book, we see how sometimes the
dreams we have, the ones that seem impossible, are actually not as impossible
as they seem. The problem is that we can’t see them for what they are because
they are not exactly as we envisioned them to be. Sometimes we have to open our
eyes, use our imagination, and then we see that yes, the dream we have been
seeking is right there. It has always been right there.
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