Leola and the Honeybears by Melodye Benson Rosales

As mentioned in an earlier blog post, as a radical teacher I don’t use the word ‘ dark’ in reference to anything with a negative connotation in my classroom, regardless of how harmless or minute the reference may be perceived by others. I adlib and sub-lib some of the words in this beautiful picture book. Shout out to the following authors, who’s stories were able to join the ranks in the Listening Center: Other authors, take note, of how beneficial and appreciated an included book-on-cd is for teachers buying a picture book. Seuss’ books from last week stayed in the center, and I added some other great reads that included an audio CD of the story with the book. We are already saying to each other, “What would One do?” and “Let’s be number One. Mindful anti-bullying allegory at its finest. This treasure of a book will also be used throughout the year. I wish I had some of their drawings to show you here, because the students did incredibly well with following the art teacher’s lead, and incorporating the ‘coloring-in’ technique that I had taught them the previous Tuesday. The art teacher chose Thursday’s read aloud, Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crocket Johnson, to introduce the day’s art lesson. I will be definitely using this book again with the students. The children were highly engaged in this story, and had so much to say about it that we read it the following day too. So many teaching moments in John Kilaka’s The Amazing Tree. Print.The students so enjoyed having our principal come in and read Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino.

In any case, Rosales has created a unique, engaging story with beautifully-rendered illustrations this book is a delightful discovery and worthy of more publicity.

Although the Honeybears bear a striking (unintentional?) resemblance to the “Country Bear Jamboree” at Disneyland, the illustrations are actually a mixture of realism (the human characters) and fancy (the anthropomorphic animals). Like the traditional Goldilocks story, Leola and the Honeybears is a cautionary tale that reminds children to heed the warnings of their elders however, an interesting twist on the story is that the Honeybears actually take pity on poor, lost Leola and help her find her way home. In fact, Rosales seems to reference other stories with her book, specifically the Uncle Remus tales collected by Joel Chandler Harris: the language is imbued with a southern twang and the characters act like more polite, respectful versions of Brer Rabbit and his kin. Show More hefty helping of southern hospitality.

Leola and the Honeybears by Melodye Benson Rosales