{"id":46047,"date":"2025-02-28T01:29:14","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T09:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=46047"},"modified":"2025-03-06T14:07:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T22:07:59","slug":"costumed-counting-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/28\/costumed-counting-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Costumed counting fun"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten Purim Bears: A Counting Book for Purim<\/i>\u00a0introduces kids to Purim, numbers 1-10.<\/em><\/p>\n

Fans of Once a Bear: A Counting Book<\/i> by Ron Atlas (words) and Zach Horvath (illustrations) will be happy to find that their bear friends have returned \u2013 this time, in Ten Purim Bears: A Counting Book for Purim<\/i>. Both 24-page board books are published by the Collective Book Studio, which has produced several well-written and -designed books reviewed by the Independent<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Ten Purim Bears<\/i> features all the same adorable bear characters as the first book, and follows the same format. Each scene spreads over two pages, with the numbers one through 10 written out on top and appearing numerically on the bottom, as borders. In the middle are 10 chairs, the first scene with mostly empty chairs, except for the one on the far left, where sits a baseball-costumed bear wondering, \u201cWhere is everyone?\u201d As we progress through the story, we get more bear bums on seats, each dressed in a different costume. As each new bear enters, the new number of bears is highlighted in white on both the top and bottom borders.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>
Adi, bear #6, takes her seat in Ten Purim Bears: A Counting Book for Purim by Ron Atlas (words) and Zach Horvath (illustrations), published by the Collective Book Studio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Directed to readers up to 6 years old, their reader-helpers will enjoy a laugh or two, as well. For example, Flor, \u201cwho lives next door,\u201d sits down and says, \u201cI\u2019m saving a seat for my friend.\u201d Turning the page, Pete, \u201cfrom down the street,\u201d has sat next to Flor, saying: \u201cI\u2019m the friend.\u201d I hear him doing it in a deadpan voice and it makes me chuckle every time.<\/p>\n

There are two short narratives for each scene \u2013 one introducing the next bear and the bears talking among themselves. It\u2019s a nice touch, kind of like having a parent narrator and then the kids\u2019 views on things. As we are told by the narrator that Adi\u2019s sister, Mandy, \u201cbrought some sweets \u2013 lots and lots of Purim treats,\u201d we see Mandy handing them out: \u201cThere\u2019s some for everyone,\u201d she says. \u201cThank you,\u201d says her sister. The hamantaschen that Amari Bear baked to share with his friends are his favourite, he says, while Adi agrees, \u201cYum!\u201d<\/p>\n

Kids learns not only how to count, but a bit about Purim and its traditions. Sharing, politeness and a sense of community are encouraged. As is a sense of fun, with the various costumes. And the arts! The bears have all gathered to watch a Purim spiel, of course. And we get to see a scene of the play, with quadruple-threat performers \u2013 acting, dancing, singing and playing instruments \u2013 looking like they are having a good time. The 10-bear audience certainly is.<\/p>\n

Ten Purim Bears<\/i> and Once a Bear<\/i> can be purchased at thecollectivebook.studio<\/a>. Check out the publisher\u2019s website further when you\u2019re there, as there will no doubt be another book or two you\u2019ll want to add to your collection.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ten Purim Bears: A Counting Book for Purim\u00a0introduces kids to Purim, numbers 1-10. Fans of Once a Bear: A Counting Book by Ron Atlas (words) and Zach Horvath (illustrations) will be happy to find that their bear friends have returned \u2013 this time, in Ten Purim Bears: A Counting Book for Purim. Both 24-page board […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[784,781],"tags":[5864,23668,3076,21776,7579,982,23857,23856,23858],"class_list":["post-46047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-holidays","tag-children","tag-collective-book-studio","tag-education","tag-jewish-holidays","tag-parenting","tag-purim","tag-ron-atlas","tag-ten-purim-bears","tag-zach-horvath"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}