Something About a Bear

This lovely book describes eight bears from around the world, all beautifully portrayed in watercolours. Each spread introduces the reader to different types of bears with supporting text. 'Where the water churns with salmon, thick and rich with leaping fishes, there the Brown Bear stands'. The vocabulary has been selected with care that matches the attention paid to the illustrations. Although the information offered is limited, children are inspired to discover more about the wonderful creatures depicted. The Spectacled Bear, for example, was a new discovery for us and several children enjoyed finding out more about this species and their habitat. The additional information about each bear at the end of the book with suggested websites was an excellent starting point for this. The book could be used as a way of engaging with the science curriculum - living things and their off-spring, adaptation and habitat and classification. The text also serves as an excellent example of how to convey information succinctly. Any of the illustrations could be used to inspire writing or for forming questions for further research. The book concludes that the best bear is 'your bear', linking these amazing creatures to the loveable teddy! Picture book / Ages 7+ / Reviewed by Sue Wilsher, teacher.

Suggested Reading Age 7+

The pictures in this book are beautiful. Each one is so realistic- it looks like you could touch their fur and it would feel really soft. The information in the text is very good and uses excellent vocabulary. This is a lovely book.

Suggested Reading Age 9+