Else Holmelund Minarik
Recognized in the Creative Minds Montessori 2026 Teacher’s Choice list.
Else Holmelund Minarik is one of roughly one hundred authors whose work was selected by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list — 120 books chosen across four reading stages, from first lap-reads to first chapter books. The selected book was chosen for how precisely it meets children at a real developmental moment. This recognition cannot be bought: no author or publisher paid to appear on our lists, and we take no commission on any book sale.
About Else Holmelund Minarik
Else Holmelund Minarik (1920–2012) was born in Denmark and taught first grade at a public school in Commack, on Long Island. She wrote Little Bear so her students would have something they could read on their own.
She sent the stories to editor Ursula Nordstrom at Harper & Row, who chose Little Bear to launch the I Can Read series and asked Maurice Sendak to illustrate it; the book appeared in 1957.
Also by this author: Father Bear Comes Home · Little Bear’s Visit · A Kiss for Little Bear
Publisher page: www.harpercollins.ca/author/cr-166494/else-holmelund-minarik
Selected for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list
Part of The Best Children’s Books by Age, chosen by the teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX.