It is night-time. There are bears. They are up to something.
This is a fairly accurate synopsis that covers this entire book. This is a bedtime favourite in our house, winning on simplicity, its short length and the opportunity to make owl noises several times.
The story starts off with our ursine protagonists all in bed together, following lights out time. They have other plans though... "In bed.... out of bed..... to the window".
With relatively few words on each page and some great illustrations of the titular large omnivorous mammals following sundown, the story is wonderfully clear, and the clever use of repetition (in general each page picks up from the last one and then adds a bit) makes this very easy for young children to follow and quite enjoyable to read aloud as an adult. The pages above show the adventures of the bears before the key point of the story, which sends them all scurrying back the way they came and ending up in the same place they started, but in a fun way rather than anything remotely scary (scary adventures with the Berenstein bears that still un-nerve my 4 year old do come up in 'The Spooky Old Tree'!).
This makes a great option for 'the last book before bedtime', particularly with its night-time theme and the fact that *warning- spoilers* the bears all end up tucked up in bed at the end.
Parents' reading-out loud enjoyment rating: 4/5
Child's enjoyment of story with additional owl noises included: 5/5
Bears out of bed: 7/7
Need for child-proof locks on bedroom windows: High
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