The Very Cranky Bear

Author: Nick Bland

Title: The Very Cranky Bear

Illustrator: Nick Bland

Genre: Children's Chapter Book

Subgenre: Animals

Theme: Sometimes the simple things are more important in life.
Primary and secondary characters: The sheep, the bear, the lion, the zebra, and the moose.
Award(s) date of publication: 2008
Publishing Company: Scholastic Inc.
Brief Summary and how I would use this book with students: This book is about a moose, lion, sheep, and zebra all playing inside a cave while it is raining. They do not realize that there is someone else there until they wake up a cranky bear. They decide to cheer him up so that he wil let them play. The lion, zebra, and the moose think that the bear is cranky because he looks plain. They decide to make him zebra stripes, a mane, and antlers. The bear is still cranky. The sheep decides to shave his hair and give it to the bear as a pillow. This makes the cranky bear happy and he goes to sleep. I could use this book to teach my students that sometimes doing something small for someone else can go a long way.