Meet 'Rainbow Bear'—The Newest Book in the Classic 'Brown Bear' Collection (Exclusive)

Bestselling co-authors Bill Martin, Jr. and Michael Sampson aim to teach young children about colors, hibernation, and self-love.

My daughters are now 14 and 11. But I often long for the days when they would snuggle up on my lap and we would read books together. Some of their favorites we read on repeat were Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and the other books in the series starring Polar Bear, Panda Bear, and Baby Bear. The girls chose those books so often that they eventually "read" them with me.

You can imagine my excitement and the wave of nostalgia that swept over me when the email crossed my inbox to unveil the cover for the newest book in the series from New York Times best-selling co-authors Bill Martin, Jr., and Michael Sampson, titled Rainbow Bear. Not only that, but I was going to get the opportunity to talk to Sampson about the new book and the long partnership with his friend, the late Bill Martin, Jr.

"I am higher on this book than [any others] we've done in years," Sampson tells Parents.

In fact, Rainbow Bear is the first "Bear" book from Martin and Sampson since Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See? in 2007.

What is 'Rainbow Bear' About?

Rainbow Bear follows the adorable journey of Little Bear, who awakes from his winter's slumber hungry. He mentions to Mommy Bear just how hungry he is, and she sends him out on a journey to find food.

But this isn't just any kind of food; Little Bear finds all different kinds of bright, beautiful, and colorful berries to eat.

Eventually, Little Bear's coat turns from typical bear-colored brown to a beautiful rainbow. When Mommy Bear sees her cub, she calls him her "little Messy Bear."

"No Mommy, I'm your little Rainbow Bear. Yummy Tum Tee, Beautiful Me!" Little Bear responds.

The book is geared toward children from the time they are born up through kindergarten.

"The most important thing about our books is that they bring great pleasure and joy to the reader," Sampson tells Parents. "But a secondary importance is we want to teach something. Of course, Brown Bear taught about animals, but most of all colors. Rainbow Bear is a brown bear and it [also] teaches the colors but in the form of rainbow."

It's not just the story itself that teaches a lesson. Sampson says the book includes a fact sheet at the end. "I talk about how a rainbow is made," he explains. "And I talk about bears and hibernating."

There's a message about self-love in Rainbow Bear as well. "Everyone is precious and beautiful," Sampson adds.

Rainbow Bear is beautifully illustrated by Nathalie Beauvois, who already worked with Sampson on the children's book Armadillo Antics.

Sampson says it was very important to capture the style of the illustrator of the original Brown Bear book, Eric Carle, with "big, in your face vibrant colors."

"It's not just copying Eric's style; it's reminiscent of that, but it has something more bold also," Sampson explains. "But if you look at the bear in Rainbow Bear, it's different than Eric's Bear, but it's just as cute."

The Buildings of a Friendship and Partnership

I also see this book as the never-ending rainbow arc of the long friendship of its co-authors. Sampson met Martin in 1977 at the University of Arizona. Sampson says he was getting his PhD there when Martin came to speak at a conference.

"I picked him up at the airport to volunteer and we hit it off; we hit it off so well," he says.

And that was the start of a beautiful friendship and mentorship. The two worked to educate young teachers and create books to enhance the minds of young readers.

In 1992, Sampson says he bought 26 acres of land outside of Dallas to build a home. But the land also caught Martin's eye.

"He said, 'Will you save this spot for me?' I thought he was kidding. But he really wanted to build a house," Sampson recollects. "So, he built a house beside mine and he named the place Woodfrost because he loves Robert Frost."

The two worked together for 15 years there before Martin passed away in 2004. That partnership included some well-known books you may have on your bookshelf like Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? and Chicka Chicka 1,2,3, just to name a few.

"We would get together at about 7:30, have breakfast, and then we would write until noon and go have lunch," he says.

Sampson now owns the rights to the Bill Martin, Jr. estate, including all of his writings, artwork, and unpublished manuscripts. Rainbow Bear is one of those titles.

"It's one that Bill and I did 20 to 23 years ago," Sampson says. "I had about 20 manuscripts that we had written and I've been slowly, placing them over the years—this was one of our favorites."

Will we see more of Sampson's work with Martin?

"When you write a book, it's like a child and we wrote these together and it was such a thrill that we just loved it so much," he explains. "And all those books are like children so I want to see them in print, and now I'm probably down to about four or five manuscripts."

Sampson says he will probably release one book a year, but he tells Parents... "I looked at the remaining manuscripts that I did with Bill Martin, and in fact Rainbow Bear will be the very last Bill Martin, Jr. book about bears. So that makes this even more special," he says.

Don't worry though, Sampson reassures us the other manuscripts are fun as well.

Rainbow Bear from Brown Books Kids will go on sale in September.

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