“The world is growing grayer and chillier as autumn heads into winter…  Mama Bear wants her cub to head toward their den… but Small Bear wants nothing to do with that. True to all small ones everywhere, he does not want a nap!

The rhyming text has a gentle pace that lulls readers as the bears head for their den. The illustrations reflect the changes from one season to the next.

Children will empathize with the cub’s one last look at the falling snow and the promise that the spring will return with all its glory before they, too, will succumb to rest.

VERDICT This soft, reassuring tale is ideal for teaching seasonal changes as well as the need for transitions.”

Composed in rhyming couplets, the spare text evokes autumn’s final days, preparations for winter hibernation, Small Bear’s reluctance to accept hibernation, and Mama’s patient responses. Simple, quiet illustrations executed in a soft, elegant, swirling style trace the transition from tawny autumn’s bareness to early winter’s silvery wonderland.

Scenes of Mouse, Chipmunk, Skunk, Hare, Badger, Racoon, and, eventually, Small Bear and Mama snuggling safely inside their respective cozy winter dens should provoke useful parallels and opportunities for parents to cajole their little ones to sleep.

Reassuring, inviting bedtime fare.