Bear Came Along
Today we bring you the third video in our series on the 2020 Caldecotts: BEAR CAME ALONG!
Our discussion encompasses the rollicking adventure of BEAR CAME ALONG written by Richard T. Morris, illustrated by LeUyen Pham, and published by Little, Brown and Company. This Caldecott Honor Book is especially close to our hearts because LeUyen and her editor on this book, Alvina Ling, were both speakers at Picture Book Summit 2018. LeUyen even shared some of her early illustration drafts of this book with us during her presentation. Congratulations, LeUyen!
Here’s a quick description of BEAR CAME ALONG:
Once there was a river flowing through a forest. The river didn’t know it was capable of adventures until a big bear came along. But adventures aren’t any fun by yourself, and so enters Froggy, Turtles, Beaver, Racoons, and Duck.
These very different animals take off downstream, but they didn’t know they needed one another until thankfully, the river came along.
This hilarious picture book and heartfelt message celebrates the joy and fun that’s in store when you embark together on a ride of a lifetime.
Katie Davis leads this lively conversation about adventure, community, and embracing the unknown. Plus, enjoy a little insight on how these illustrations came together. This one is sure to put a smile on your face.
BEAR CAME ALONG
This video series is a continuation of our yearly tradition of coming together for an in-depth analysis of the Caldecott-winning books. (You can see previous years’ discussions here.) We analyze the text, the illustrations, and how they combine to create an award-winning picture book. Through this process, we always learn something new and we hope you do too!
As a reminder, here are the 2020 winners:
Be sure catch the first two videos in our series:
DOUBLE BASS BLUES written by Andrea J. Loney and illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez
GOING DOWN HOME WITH DADDY by Kelly Starling Lyons and Daniel Minter
We’ll return in a few days for our discussion of 2020 Caldecott Medal winner THE UNDEFEATED!
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Wondering how you can write picture books that shine? Check out our Picture Book Summit Revision Strategies.
Lily Erlic
May 12, 2020 at 5:19 pmThank you for an excellent review of the book, Bear Came Along. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I noticed something. when Katie said “you can hear the waterfall” that there was no text on the page. Usually authors write in the sound of the water coming down like SWOOSH, WHOOSH or something like that. What do you think? Should an onomatopoeia been used here? Although I think the book is well done, this crossed my mind as I saw that spread. Thanks again for a great presentation!,
Diane Garratt
May 12, 2020 at 6:04 pmThis series is so interesting. I’m really enjoying it and learning from it. Thank you!
Andrea Mack
May 13, 2020 at 8:20 amThank you!! This was such an interesting discussion and inspired some deeper thinking for me about my own work. I really enjoyed how each of you had slightly different perspectives on the themes of this book, which really shows how this book works on many different levels with layers.
Lauri Fortino
May 17, 2020 at 2:01 pmThank you so much for doing these videos! I really love the in-depth analysis!
Regina K Coates
May 20, 2020 at 5:46 pmWhat an amazing book and between you 4, the depth was wonderfully explored.
It seems to me, that the author would not have had much of a “story” to turn into a publisher without the illustrations. I don’t mean to disparage the author because together it all works so well, but the text by itself, would not necessarily jump out of the slush pile. My understanding is that publishers will match author and illustrator. How would a manuscript like this, from an unknown, rise up from the slush pile? Thanks for any advice.