Reviews

A Bear Sat on My Porch Today by Jane Yolen, Rilla Alexander

idgey's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

4.25

crystal_reading's review against another edition

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Final copy via publisher

bookdingo's review against another edition

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4.0

Maybe if that little girl didn't have such a freaking amazing wraparound porch the wildlife wouldn't be all up in it.

I like a book world in which a bird is a bigger problem to have on your porch than say, a moose or a bear.

racham1123's review against another edition

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1.0

Eh. I just didn't like it.

That's not fair. I didn't like the illustrations and how they look like they've been colored harshly with a broken crayon by a child.

I didn't really like the story. It wasn't very satisfying.

I didn't like the last two pages that have randomly taken the hidden flap style, because was it really necessary?

I didn't like that the kid mentions a mom, "just don't scare my mommy!" On one of the first pages but we never actually see the mom or hear of her again.

I liked the smirking bear.


...it just wasn't for me.

shinychick's review against another edition

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2.0

I love jane Yolen, but I think with the speech dynamics, my usual preschoolers won't be able to follow it.

annsantori's review against another edition

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3.0

Nice cumulative story of various animals invading a child's porch and quickly becoming a (well-meaning) nuisance. Good use of white space and color blocking in illustrations.

librarianryan's review

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2.0

I’m a bit disappointed in this book, and I usually love Yolen. The main part of the story rhymes and is quite lovely, but if you read the parts that are not printed in black, they start by rhyming and then fall short. Plus the story seems to end abruptly. The illustrations are okay, and I actually like those better than I do the story in general.

tinkeringlibrarian's review

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3.0

Cute book about welcoming all kinds of people! Ending a tad weak. Ages 4-8. A little hard to read aloud with text all over the place, and the signs are just not visible from a distance.
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