Also by Patricia Derrick: Mr. Walrus and the Old School Bus Beaser the Bear's Rocky Mountain Christmas (Animalations) by Patricia Derrick Ages 4-8 24 pages Animalations October 2007 Hardcover     Beaser is a grown male bear with a wife and two young cubs. His goal this year is to help his children feel the true joy of the winter holiday celebrations through voluntarily sharing their extra things. The family thinks about how many things they have to share and realize they also have room enough in their cozy den to provide shelter for two homeless cubs in their town. The love and generosity overflows in the Beaser residence, and he is filled with pride for his family’s big hearts. Beaser the Bear's Rocky Mountain Christmas is one of nine and counting published children’s sing-and-read-along hardcover books in the "Animalations" series by Patricia Derrick. Beaser’s two cubs, Rickity and Snickity, appear in another book in this series entitled Rickity and Snickity at the Balloon Fiesta. Derrick’s writing style utilizes her experience gained through a master's degree in education, teaching early and elementary school, being a college assistant professor, and 30 years of owning and operating early-learning schools. Combining language, music and movement with entertaining illustrations has brought this series a long list of nominations and awards. The original sing-and-read-along CD is encased in a tidy plastic envelope on the back cover. Additional bonuses include sheet music with simple notations for music classes, science notes, and parent/teacher notes with activities for children to enjoy. Doug Hoch, whose university seminars, children’s book illustrations and landscape paintings are well known, provides the artwork for Beaser the Bear's Rocky Mountain Christmas. The images are strong and appear thick; seeming to have texture that you could feel if you touched the page. They are certainly large enough that the book can be held up for a reading group to see the two-page illustrations. While I enjoyed the illustrations and appreciate the underlying message in this well-written book, I was disappointed to see yet another newly published children’s book without any information on the recycled content of the book itself. With today’s publishers offering paper that has up to 100% recycled content, reviewers like myself would appreciate seeing more authors utilizing this option. Regardless, I would rate this book 4 stars out of 5.   web reviews   Lillian Brummet/2007 for curled up with a good kid's book   For grown-up fiction, nonfiction and speculative fiction book reviews, visit our sister site Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)