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 introduces Little Bear and his mother, Mother Bear, and his friends, Cat, Duck, and Hen. The subsequent books in the series—published in 1959, 1960, 1961, and 1968—introduce 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.

These first five Little Bear books, illustrated by Maurice Sendak, went on to spawn a TV series, which culminated with a direct-to-video feature film entitled 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 Little Bear 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 original Little Bear book, Little Bear and the Marco Polo, illustrated by Dorothy Doubleday.