THE BEARS ON HEMLOCK MOUNTAIN

Legend in the making in the form of a sort of regional folk tale with the kind of rhythm and repeat construction small children love. Jonathan was eight, pretty small to be sent over Hemock Mountain to borrow a big iron pot from his aunt on the other side. But he found he had friends in the squirrels and the birds and the rabbits, and all would have been well if he hadn't eaten too many of his aunt's cookies and drunk too much milk and slept too long so that it was dark when he started back with the big iron pot. What he discovered about the bears of Hemlock Mountain makes the climax of a story that is good read aloud material, and that second graders will be able to read to themselves. Helen Sewell's line drawings in black and blue make decorative borders. Her humans are pretty much stock figures but she has a nice feel for the Pennsylvania German decorative art quality.