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The Other Day I Met A Bear

John M. Feirerabend only changed a small amount of the original tune to flow with the beautifully crafted scratchboard etchings.  Any librarian who can carry a tune will thrill k-3 grade students with this traditional call and response songtale, perhaps before they leave for the summer with thoughts of camping and hiking in their future plans.  The last page of the book gives a brief history of the song and a small paragraph about the artwork.  Smart teacher-librarians will explain the art before the reading/singing of the song so that students appreciate the amount of time it took to create these illustrations.  The music for the original tune and a set of the lyrics are also at the back and two free mp3s of the song are available for download.  This is  one of ten in a series of picture books from GIA Publications, Inc. in an effort to preserve children’s folk songs.  Recommended.