Mika: The Bear Who Didn't Want to Sleep

by Erik Kriek

Overview

Join Mika, a cute little bear on secret quest to avoid hibernation so that she can see the beauty of the Northern Lights for herself!

Mika is a little bear who loves to run and play all over the forest, but she soon learns that winter is on its way, and she is supposed to spend these long, cold months hibernating with her mother and father. When the Old Owl tells Mika about the Northern Lights that appear every winter, she can't stand the thought of missing something so beautiful, and so she sets out on a secret, snowy adventure to find them!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781912497010
Publisher:	Nobrow Ltd.
Publication date:	10/02/2018
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	871,299
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 10.30(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Erik Kriek is a freelance illustrator and comic artist who studied illustration and graphic arts at the Rietveld Academy for Art and Design in Amsterdam. His popular comic book series, Gutsman, received national acclaim and was adapted for the stage, earning Erik the 2008 Stripschapprijs. He is currently based in Amsterdam.

Editorial Reviews

10/22/2018
In this striking offering from Dutch artist Kriek, a young bear longs to experience a natural phenomenon. After hearing about the Northern Lights from an old owl, bear cub Mika settles down to hibernate, but once his parents are asleep, he tiptoes out to see whether he can spot the dramatic sky show. In Kriek’s birch- and spruce-studded forest scenes—they have the look of midcentury national park posters—Mika’s search introduces him to a series of familiar forest animals (“Hello, wolf. Do you know where I can find the Northern Lights?”). An encounter with a wolverine is the only tense moment, though the story also includes a solemn warning for readers who might be tempted by solo expeditions (“You should never just sneak outside like that,” says Papa. “Luckily we saw your paw prints in the snow”). In a final climactic spread, the whole bear family witnesses the greenish-blue light dancing across the sky. The illustrations’ retro style and the story’s earnest tone recall classic library favorites and provide just the right amount of bedtime excitement. Ages 3–5. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

The illustrations’ retro style and the story’s earnest tone recall classic library favorites and provide just the right amount of bedtime excitement.”—Publishers Weekly

"A bedtime bear book with vintage flair. [...] Old-fashioned in the beary best of ways."
—Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW

From the Publisher

11/01/2018

PreS-Gr 1—Little Mika, a bear cub from the Far North, enjoys his summer, splashing in the river and eating delicious food that Mama and Papa Bear bring him. As days grow colder and winter approaches, Mika talks to an old owl and finds out about hibernating, and also about the Northern Lights. Not wanting to miss the special sight, he decides that he will not sleep through the winter and sneaks out of his den when his parents fall asleep. He asks different animals for directions, and eventually encounters the owl again, who points out the magnificent display in the sky. While the little bear watches, his worried parents arrive, having tracked his prints in the snow. Together, they watch "the beautiful lights" and retreat back to their cave for peaceful slumber. Kriek's delightful illustrations have a vintage feel; the cover is reminiscent of Lynd Ward's The Biggest Bear, though the images are closer in style to Robert McCloskey's. VERDICT There is certainly no shortage of bear books, but this quaint Dutch import just might be charming enough to merit addition to most large collections.—Yelena Voysey, formerly at Pickering Educational Library, Boston University

School Library Journal

★ 2018-08-27

A bedtime bear book with vintage flair.

This Dutch import via the U.K. looks like a throwback to the work of mid-20th-century artists such as Leonard Wiesgard, Alice and Martin Provensen, Feodor Rojankovsky, and perhaps even Robert McCloskey, so well-known for a bear book of his own. The sans-serif type used on the cover and interior pages adds to this modern aesthetic, but rather than make the book feel dated, it's quite appealing. The engaging text doesn't seem to lose anything in Watkinson's translation as it tells the story of a little brown bear cub named Mika who doesn't want to hibernate after an owl tells him about the northern lights. He sneaks out when his parents are asleep in their den and asks the animals he meets how to find them. Neither the moose, the crane, the wolf, nor the wolverine can help him, but when he again encounters the owl, they look up together and see how "all kinds of different colours lit up the deep blue of the night." While Mika is caught up in his reverie with the northern lights, his parents arrive. They say they aren't angry with him, but they were worried and explain that they followed his paw prints through the snow to find him. Their return back to their cave is a cozy end to a truly lovely picture book.

Old-fashioned in the beary best of ways. (Picture book. 2-7)

Kirkus Reviews

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