Bear in the Sky - Hardcover

Czernecki, Stefan; Rhodes, Timothy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0920534635 ISBN 13: 9780920534632

Publisher: Hyperion Pr, 1990

Synopsis

A great brown bear that dances in the forest is imprisoned by a selfish princess, and the story of his escape explains the constellation of the Great Bear

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

With the delicate charm and compelling flavor of an Old World fairy tale, these gifted authors spin the story of the origin of the constellation Ursa Major. A brown bear who "liked nothing better than to dance to the songs of the birds" is wounded by hunters, and nursed back to health by a poor gypsy couple. A beautiful vest, embroidered with stars and the name "Zloty," is given to the bear, whose terpsichorean skills eventually cheer an unhappy princess. Revealing her true colors, the malevolent princess imprisons poor Zloty, who pines for the out-of-doors and his gypsy guardians. Enraged that her new playmate will no longer dance, the princess throws the velvet vest out the window; it disappears, leaving only a stairway of stars. The hapless bear ascends into the sky, where he dances still. Containing the stuff that classic legends are made of, this gracefully told story will please old and young alike. Though somewhat lacking in action, Czernecki's highly stylized paintings have a beguiling, Middle European quality that perfectly suits this mythlike narrative. Ages 4-up.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 1-2-- When hunters wound a dancing bear, a gypsy couple nurse it back to health. Later, it cures a Princess who cannot smile until she dances in the arms of a wild beast, and when she tries to keep it, the beast escapes up a stairway of stars to become the constellation known as the Great Bear. This apparently original tale features stylized color illustrations, each framed in acorns and Chapman oak leaves (a Florida variety). Most of the human figures are stereotypes: the gypsy man plays a fiddle; his wife, always seen in festival dress, has a crystal ball; in one picture a Zulu with a clownish expression, wearing nothing but leopardskin shorts, armbands, and anklets, stands next to several middle-Eastern types (plus a "Mandarin") clad in ancient or modern costume. The star map at the end doesn't bear much relation to reality, either. Steer readers to the Greek myths, or books such as Goble's Star Boy (Bradbury, 1983). --John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hyperion Pr
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0920534635
• ISBN 13: 9780920534632
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 64