Julia lives next to the forest and befriended many of the animals, but there is one animal she really wants to meet--a bear. She tries to attract them, but efforts fail. One day while she is reading a book about a bear and surrounded by her forest friends, her mom calls her to lunch. When she returns, she finds her book gone with a trail of blueberry-covered footprints leaving the area. What will Julia find? This is a cute book which encourages reading. The illustrations, while not Caldecott-worthy, are colorful enough to keep non-reading children interested as an adult reads aloud. I spotted this in the "Read Now" section at NetGalley and downloaded it in exchange for an honest review.

The book, How to Catch a Bear Who Loves to Read, is a little far-fetched. The illustrations are good, but the story is a little odd. Julia, the girl, is reading a book about a bear and decides she wants to get a bear hug. But first, she needs to find a bear. And even though bears are dangerous, this is fiction, and she and her skunk friend should find one. She tries to lure a bear, without success.

Until she leaves her book behind and the bear finds it. She follows his footsteps back to his house and they read the book together and she gets her bear hug. The book makes multiple references to "farting" and having a "farting contest" which isn't really appropriate for little ones. I would have given the age range on this from 2-4, but little ones shouldn't really be repeating "farting" all the time.