The Very Cranky Bear by Nick Bland

Nick Bland's The Very Cranky Bear is such a fun read aloud. Bland's artwork is full of emotion and his story flows well with rhyme and rhythm.

The Story begins: "In the Jingle Jangle Jungle on a cold and rainy day, four little friends found a perfect place to play. Moose had marvelous antlers and Lion, a golden mane. Zebra had fantastic stripes and Sheep . . . well, Sheep was plain. None of them noticed that someone else was there. Sleeping in that cave was a very cranky . . .Bear! 'Roaaaar,' went the cranky bear, 'Roar, Roar, Roar!' He gnashed his teeth and stomped his feet and chased them out the door."

The story continues with the friends trying to cheer up the cranky bear and the results are fun to read aloud. This is a book that would be easy to memorize, and if you get it, you probably will memorize it because your child will want to read it over and over again. I'll be on the lookout for Bland's other Bear books.

I had not heard of this book before finding it last week, and it's been around since 2008, so I wanted to make sure that those of you who collect pictures books because they are so awesome have small children were aware of this book. All of my little grandchildren love this book and say, "Again, again," when we get to the end.

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Read to a child today even if that child is you.