Bears over Bears
Bears in all their shapes and forms and across genres (this includes sentient teddybears and memoirs). If not friend why friend-shaped?! As long as the bear is plot or character relevant the book can land in here. Feel free to recommend books to be added (maybe also tell me why you think the bear functions as relevant for the story). We bear bears!
created by deleted
last updated August, 2026
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Ursbear talks about bears :a comfort thought đŤ
deletedOP
let me scratch those cute little ears they got!
The "Shady Hollow" series would fit on here as well! It's a cosy mystery series about woodland creatures. An investigative journalist who is a fox investigates murders and other mysteries, with the help of a police bear. Highly recommend đťđŚâ¨
deletedOP
Don't mind me. Just going to add that to the list AND my tbr. that sounds SO cool!
Shady Hollow shoutout!!! its one of my favorite series 𼚠I love it so much
They Threw Us Away by Daniel Kraus would be a great addition to this list! The MCs are all sentient teddy bears. 𫶠:)
deletedOP
Thank you, that one sounds very cool and very similar to "Drei Bären in der Nacht" which is a favourite childrens book of mine!
This is the bears weâre talking about when weâre choosing to hang out with them alone in the forest!
deletedOP
Exactly!!
This is the most amazing list for any bears lover! I am so happy that I found it :D I would add "The Night After Christmas" by James Stevenson, "The Teddy Robinson Storybook" by Joan G. Robinson, "Winkie" by Clifford Chase, "Old Bear and Friends" by Jane Hissey, Corduroy" by Don Freeman, "Teddy and the Animals" by Michael Ende, "Teddy Bear Tales" by Andrew Sachs and "Otto: The Autobiography of a Teddy Bear" by Tomi Ungerer (all with plush bears). Some books where moon bears appear are "The life of Pi" and the indian "Ramayana", where the bear is a god. Based on Ramayana there is an indian children series, "Jambavan: The Immortal Bear King" by Anu Kumar. I do know a few more but that books are not availble in english as far as i know :(. Anyway, thank you for this list, i love it!
deletedOP
We love all bears! Big to small, to cuddly to angry. So happy to have you here! Thank you so much for the recommendations! I will get on adding them as fast as I can. And I do not mind to put non-english books on this list. One of the books is only available in German, because there is no translation, but it is one of my favourites and the reason why I thought to make this list at all. So feel free to drop the names of those too!
Yey, this is great! Because there are never enough bears. I have extra:Â -âO poveste cu mama, tata, Mircea Či ursul polarâ by Mediana Stan and âUrsuleČul pofticiosâ by Claudia Cojocaru - are available for free in Google Books (both in Romanian) -Â âOchi de ursâ / âUrsulâ by Mihail Sadoveanu (short story) (romanian) -âUrsulâ by Adrian Oprescu (kids book)Â (romanian)
- "Povestea ursului cafeniuâ by Vladimir Colin  (romanian)
- "Nono" by Renata Carageani - plush bear, but not aimed at kids (romanian)
- "Hendrik de Mol si Planeta de Aur" by K.J. Mecklenfeld
- plush bears, for kids (romanian) - "Nametoko Yama no Kami" (Bears of Nametoko) by Miyazawa Kenji (japanese) - "Muku Hatojō" has a short story named Tsukinowaguma (japanese)
- "Fram, The Polar Bear (Fram, ursul polar)" by Cezar Petrescu was translated in english many years ago, but I don't think that is really available now (romanian) - "The Fox Plays the Bear a Trick (Ursul pacalit de vulpe)" by Ion Creanga is in the same situation - was translated in english, german and french a long time ago, I don't think that you can buy it now if you want (romanian)
I have also some symbolic bears: - âĂn gura marelui ursâ by Ana-Maria Lemnaru (graphic novel about the kids that have been in the communist prisons) (romanian)
- "The bear woman" by Karolina Ramqvist
- "The Story of the Panda Bears Told by a Saxophonist Who Has a Girlfriend in Frankfurt" by Matei Visinec
And some more: -"Bear" by Staffan Gnosspelius (picture book for adults)
- "Benjamin Bear" by Philippe Coudray (made after the animated series had such a success)
Also, in Finland they have an ancient religion (recognized by the Finnish state, and that still has active followers) named  Karhun kansa (Finnish for âpeople of the bearâ) that has as a central figure the brown bear, named Otso, that is considered mythical ancestor of all humankind, and below are a few books about it:
- "The Great Bear: A Thematic Anthology of Oral Poetry in the Finno-Ugrian Languages" by by Lauri Honko
- "Karhun kannoilla - In the Footsteps of the Bear" by Clive Tolley
- "Golden King of the Forest - The Lore of the Northern Bear", by Juha Pentikäinen
There are also some native american legends about black and grizzly bears having a conflict, but at this point I do not have a book about it, but if i find it i will share it for sure.
If anything does not fit into the list please don't add it to the list. And hope you will enjoy the perfect bear obsession with a bear book :).
deletedOP
Thank you so much! I added what I could find on here (and on goodreads) and some of these really sound interesting. Especially the Finland Religion. So thank you for helping and widening my list about bears!
I'm not sure if this would count but "a psalm for the wild-built by Becky Chambers*? There is a bear appearance (very small tho) + one of the MCs believes in a bear god/ is like their main god? (Sorta unsure how to explain đ)
also I love this list!! So cute 𼚠đť đŤ đ
deletedOP
Ah, thank you. I am so happy to see people loving the list and the theme! I am not sure if that book would count then. I tried to have the bears be central to the plot or characters. So unless the bear god shows up or the character is focused heavily on their god, i am not sure if I would put it in. But I will put the book on my personal list to check it out - though I have no idea when I will get around to it.
np!
yea I wasn't too sure if it would count but oh well đ¤ˇââď¸
have fun! I really enjoyed the book đââď¸ it's really cosy and wholesome â¤ď¸
