Little Bear (book series)

Little Bear is a series of children's picture books written by Else Holmelund Minarik that primarily involves Little Bear—an anthropomorphic bear cub—his mother and father, and his friends. Little Bear books have sold millions of copies and achieved multiple awards and recognitions, including a 1962 Caldecott Honor and a place on the ALA Notable Children's Books list and The New York Times Book Review's 1997 list of the best children's books of the previous fifty years.

The first book in the series, titled Little Bear, was published in 1957 by Harper and Brothers, now known as HarperCollins. It was the first entry in the I Can Read! line of children's books, which is characterized by simple sentences using familiar vocabulary for young readers to learn. The book introduced Little Bear and his mother, Mother Bear, and his friends, Cat, Duck, and Hen. Subsequent books in the Little Bear series—published in 1959, 1960, 1961, and 1968—introduced Little Bear's father, Father Bear; another of his friends, Owl; a girl he meets named Emily; his grandparents, Grandmother and Grandfather Bear; and some other friends, including two skunks.

In a 2006 interview, Minarik discussed why she chose bears as the subjects of her books: "I thought to myself, all children of all colours would be reading the stories. All children love animals. The bear is fine. I love them because Mother took me to the Bronx zoo every day, and I fell in love with the cubs. My bears were a family."

The first five Little Bear books, illustrated by Maurice Sendak, were the basis for a TV series that culminated with a direct-to-video feature film titled The Little Bear Movie. The series was animated by the Canadian studio Nelvana and starred Kristin Fairlie as the voice of Little Bear.

From 2002 to 2004, twenty-eight new Little Bear books were published, authored by Minarik and based on episodes from the TV series. Though Sendak did not return to illustrate this series himself, he did pick its artists: David T. Wenzel illustrated twelve of the books, Chris Hahner illustrated another twelve, Heather Green illustrated two, and Teri Lee illustrated another two. In 2010, two years prior to her death, Minarik wrote one final Little Bear book, Little Bear and the Marco Polo, illustrated by Dorothy Doubleday.