THIS BOOK STARTED as a sequel to Magic Thinks Big, a book about a cat who sits in a doorway and never moves. I wanted to write about him not moving again. But instead of imagining himself across a lake, I wanted him to imagine himself on a migration with some geese. This didnt work.

But there was one image in my failed mock-ups I liked. A fat furry animal in a V of flying geese. I thought that was funny. I kept reworking the story—taking out the cat, adding a bear, taking out sea turtles, adding a woodpecker—but this stayed.

This book is about a bear cub who doesn’t want to hibernate (or a child who doesn’t want to be made to sleep, as my daughters were no doubt an influence). Outside the bear’s cave, moose and rabbits are butting heads and leaping around and having a great time, but he can’t. Or, he can’t convince the animals to stay just one minute longer. It’s wrong.

I remember feeling this way when I was young, throwing a ball in the field behind our house, and being told to come in to dinner.

REVIEWS

School Library Journal 9.06
"Cooper captures the indignation of a youngster who does not want to go to bed, especially when friends are allowed to stay up later. The watercolor-and-pencil illustrations softly portray the transition from fall to winter as well as from wakefulness to slumber. A striking spread, reminiscent of a constellation chart, transports the animals from the solid earth to a snowy nighttime sky, where Bear sleeps, surrounded by his friends. This quiet book with its dreamlike quality is ideal for bedtime sharing."

Kirkus 8.1.06
"A charming bedtime tale for young ones."

Published by:
Greenwillow (HarperCollins) 2006
ISBN 0060874287 $17