Can a mistake lead to something good? Can letting go become an act of care? Sharon Woods builds curiosity through small moments that carry surprising emotional weight. Instead of explaining every lesson at once… she allows readers to discover it through wonder, worry, and hope.
I am Sharon Woods, the author of The Story of Sharin’ Bear. I wanted to share a gentle story with something real at its heart. Children make brave choices, careless choices, and kind choices, often all in the same day. That is what interests me. I like stories that give young readers room to feel curious, worried, hopeful, and safe, while giving families a natural reason to talk about what happened and why it mattered to them both.
With this book, I wanted to explore more than sharing a toy. Sharin’ Bear begins as a little cub trying to help his family, but his good intentions lead him far from home. Later, he finds love with Tommy and an entirely new purpose among children. I hope readers notice the quieter parts too: loneliness, change, letting go, and the comfort of being needed. For me, those small feelings are often where a story truly stays with us for years.
The Story of Sharin’ Bear follows a small bear who leaves home to find food for his family. Although his heart is in the right place, he soon becomes lost, faces a much larger bear, and tumbles down a steep hill. Then, a Guardian Angel Bear gives him a new life as a teddy bear. From that moment, his journey shifts from surviving in the woods to learning how love, care, and responsibility can shape a life guided by purpose.
Tommy finds Sharin’ Bear sitting alone by the roadside and takes him home. For a while, the two are hardly ever apart. Then school starts, a new baby joins the family, and Tommy has less time for him. Sharin’ Bear begins to feel lonely, until Tommy takes him to class. There, surrounded by children eager to hold him and share him, he finally finds where he belongs. The book offers a tender, transformative look at sharing, wise choices, loneliness, and belonging while allowing young readers to absorb each lesson through the unfolding story at their pace.
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