The Bear Ate Your Sandwich

The Bear Ate Your Sandwich, by Julia Sarcone-Roach

"By now I think you know what happened to your sandwich.  But you may not know how it happened.  So let me tell you.  It all started with the bear."

The narrator tells of a happy bear in a forest who finds a truck with baskets of berries in the truck bed.  After the bear eats and falls asleep, the truck drives out of the forest and into a city.

Warm, colorful illustrations (acrylic paint and pencil) tell the story of the curious and playful bear's journey from the forest to the sandwich.  The illustrations show the bear climbing and exploring, scratching his back on a lamp post, walking through wet cement, and looking for things to eat.  The bear follows his nose to a park and sees the sandwich.

"Your beautiful and delicious sandwich all alone.  He waited to make sure no one saw him (not even the sandwich) before he made his move.  It was a great sandwich.  The bear loved it."

The bear is surprised to find dogs in the park and runs away -- eventually getting back to his home in the forest.

A cute twist in the ending reveals a Scottie dog standing over a scrap of lettuce, telling the story to a little girl.  So who ate the sandwich?  The dog?  Or a bear?  Share this picture book with young children - you'll all enjoy the fun sandwich-eating bear story.