Little Bear's Treasures by Stella Dreis

 

"When treasures are shared, they multiply."

Little Bear is a great treasure finder. "He didn't look for his treasures - he found them. Everywhere."

Finding all these wonderful things Little Bear is keen to share the treasures with others but at every turn he is rejected. Others scoff and say his treasures are no more than junk. This makes Little Bear utterly despondent until he meets a new friend - Little Bird. Thank goodness for new friends. Thank goodness for new friends who have an imagination. Thank goodness for new friends who love to explore and notice things in the world because there are so many glorious things all around just waiting to be found.

"The stood there like two kings and counted the stars."

Take a minute to think about the language used in this book and the amazing skill of the translator.

Little Bear examined his treasures. The key word here is "examined". He did more than just look at them. Examined means he touched them, he thought about each one, he recalled where he found his treasures.

Here are the treasures:

"A shiny button, tickly feathers, a soft cloud, a handy clothespin, a cosy hiding place, a shy piece of fluff, a magic stick, endless dust to dance in and a bush brimming with blueberries."

You can see many of the illustrations here.

Stella Dreis is a painter, illustrator, and author from Plovdiv, Bulgaria. She has lived in Germany since 1995, where she works as a freelance artist and illustrator, creating her treasure trove of work. Dreis’s fine illustrations have received many awards including the Hasselt Publication Award, the Troisdorf picture book prize, and the Golden Plaquette from the Bratislava International Biennial of Illustrations. Greystone Books

Alive with modest wonder—a treasure. Kirkus Star review

The art of Little Bear's Treasure manages to have an ebullient quality that captures the bear's euphoria at the knowledge that he has stumbled upon something more priceless than treasure: someone who understands him. Shelf Awareness

Here is the cover of the original German edition published in 2018.

I am keen to see some other books illustrated by Stella Dreis.

Here is the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Princess and the Pea

One German reviewer suggested pairing Little Bear's Treasures with these:

I have previously talked about another book by Anne-Galle Balpe - The Bureau of Weights and Measures. And I am excited to see Eve Tharlet is the illustrator of a quirky book I used to enjoy sharing with Kindergarten - How will we get to the beach by Brigitte Luciani.

The CBCA Book Week in 2018 slogan was Find your Treasure. This book is the perfect embodiment of that sentiment.