Session 6: Tell Me a (Picture) Story

Grade level this book has been selected for: Kindergarten

APA Citation: Sarcone-Roach, J. (2015). The Bear Ate Your Sandwich. New York, NY: Random House

Book Description: When a sandwich goes missing, it seems a bear is the likely culprit.

 (From the books title page.)

Book is appropriate for: Ages 0-8; Pre-Kindergarten-Second grade

Justification: The Bear Ate Your Sandwich a great introduction to unreliable narrators and story telling in general. I would use this book in a story time that revolved around these topics that demonstrates CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.10 Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. (English Language Arts Standards >> Reading: Literature, Retrieved from Common Core State Standard Initiatives on October 11, 2017: http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/K/10/ (Links to an external site.) Links to an external site. 

Keywords: Funny🐻Adventure🐻Colorful Illustrations🐻Unreliable Narrator

Scholarly Review: "It all started with the bear ," begins this story of what happened to a sandwich . Bear wakes up to the delectable aroma of freshly picked berries. He sniffs out a red truck, the back of which is filled with boxes of perfectly harvested berries. After having a berry party, Bear falls asleep. The truck drives him to a new forest—the city. When Bear begins to explore, he sees things in the city framed by his own experiences: a telephone pole becomes a tree, and bricks on the side of a building make great bark for scratching. In a park, he finds a lunchbox with a delicious sandwich , which he eats ravenously. When he climbs a tree, he can see his forest home in the distance and desperately wants to return. Somehow, he finds a boat, which carries him to the familiar sights and sounds of home. "So that's what happened to [the ] sandwich ." This is a fun story that children will enjoy, though they'll need to suspend logic a bit. The illustrations in this book are terrific: color-drenched and bold slashes that cover the pages. The funny Bear is sympathetic and is only doing what bears do—eating and sleeping. And making us laugh. This book is a fine addition to any collection.—Mary Hazelton, formerly at Warren & Waldoboro Elementary Schools, ME --Mary Hazelton

Citation: Hazelton, M. (2014, December). Sarcone-Roach, Julia. The Bear Ate Your Sandwhich. School Library Journal, 60(12), 111.